Désolé
by Pozolegirl
Summary: 'The Cat's out of the Bag' as Adrien would say, and now Marinette and Adrien must work through their emotions during this new reveal of identities, all while Hawkmoth is hot on their trail and not about to let them slip away from him, taking matters into his own hands.
1. Chapter 1

"N-No! You can't- take it- away-" he gasped, clawing at the hand that was almost crushing his fingers to get at the ring. He would be lost without it. That was his escape from his life. That was his only way to see Ladybug. It was the only way he could be himself.

"You've exhausted your power, there's nothing else you can do, boy." Hawk Moth said coldly, and he twisted Adrien's fingers till the ring came loose and he held it in his hands.

"No! Give it back!" Adrien cried, lunging for it, but Hawk Moth's foot hit him hard in the chest, shoving him back.

"Finally… another Miraculous…" Hawk Moth said, not paying attention to Adrien who was rubbing his aching chest as he grit his teeth. "Now all I need is Ladybug…" he said with a smirk, looking down at the boy who gulped, green eyes wide.

"Hmph… Adrien Agreste. Who would have guessed it was a spoiled fashion brat?" Hawk Moth laughed lightly, glancing at Adrien for a second before turning away. Adrien felt like he snapped inside. His eyes narrowed and he once again sprung up to attack Hawk Moth, yelling an angry battle cry.

But Hawk Moth only side stepped and grabbed Adrien by the wrist, slamming him against the wall hard and pinning him against it.

"Did that make you angry? I didn't know a simple model could have deep enough layers for that kind of emotion."

"SHUT UP!" Adrien screamed back at him in fury. Then his eyes widened in horror when he saw Hawk Moth holding up his ring, and a black vibrating butterfly land on it, melting into it and turning it a burning white color, black and purple electricity shooting from it in crackling pops and snaps.

"Keep up the anger. You're going to help me catch a bug." Hawk Moth said with a twisted grin, pushing the ring back onto Adrien's finger.

"NO!" Adrien cried. But he felt himself droop, as if he was entering a deep coma, and he was no longer there.

Hawk Moth let go of the boy, who fell backwards, slumping against the wall. Black energy then engulfed him from his ring up, and Hawk Moth watched as it disappeared, leaving behind a pure white version of Chat Noir.

"Chat Blanc…" he said very coolly, and the green orbs of the boy's eyes opened, cat slit pupils appearing.

"It's time for you to prove how powerful you are. Take away Ladybug's miraculous away from her and you can finally see who she is… Do you accept, or are you too much of a 'Scaredy Cat." Hawk Moth said loud and clearly, the violet pink light of the akuma appearing around Chat Blanc's wide alert eyes. The boy's eyes narrowed angrily and he hissed out,

"I'm more powerful than you could even imagine."

—

"Chat? Are you alright?!" Ladybug asked, frowning as she looked at the small hand held screen. It was just dark.

"I'm perfectly fine. Where are you now?"

"Well I'm inside the building… I can't see you on the screen, is it really that dark where you are?"

"Yeah, it's pretty dark. But I have Nightvision, remember? I just need you to help me catch the Akuma when we find it."

"Okay…" she sighed, walking down the hallway that was getting darker and darker till she could no longer see anything at all. She'd heard that a white phantom had been sneaking around town causing havoc, and then she'd gotten a call from Chat Noir saying he knew where the Akuma was. So she'd hurried over as soon as she could, but now she couldn't even find him, let alone an Akuma. She heard her phone give a click and she looked down to see that he had hung up.

"Chat! What the heck!?" she muttered in annoyance, shaking her head. He was acting so weird!

"Hello My Lady." came the cool voice of Chat Noir behind her, and she jumped, almost hitting him.

"Gosh! Don't scare me, okay?! You're such a creep sometimes, I swear…." she said, frowning. He didn't respond, she just felt him close his hand around her wrist.

"Come this way, I think I saw the Akuma over here." he said, not even responding to her last comment. It made her stomach feel a little sick. He was acting extremely strange.

He pulled her further down until they hit a place where he said quietly,

"Alright, I heard them talking earlier about a secret passage, this must be what they were talking about."

"I have no idea, because I can't see anything, so I guess I'll just trust you on that." she laughed, shrugging her shoulders. She thought he'd laugh too, but nothing happened. She heard him opening what sounded like a door on the floor, and then after a moment of silence he said,

"This is kind of dangerous… I'll carry you, if you'd like."

"You little flirt! I'll be just fine thank you very mu-UCH!" She was interrupted by him scooping her up and pulling her into him as he began descending the stairs. She frowned. No laugh, no cheeky remarks, no stupid puns. He was freaking her out.

She was kind of annoyed at him, so she didn't say anything on the way down until they hit the dirt ground, the air cold and dry around them.

"Wow… where are we?"

"Somewhere anyone could hide forever." he said quietly, and she shivered, feeling uneasy. Then she felt his hand close around hers, over her yo-yo, and she made a face at him. Here was the shameless flirt she'd been missing.

But suddenly he was twisting the yo-yo from her fingers and she yelped in surprise as he pulled it away. She heard it clatter as he threw it, and she tried to hit him in the dark yelling,

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR, IDIOT?!"

"Well that way you can't fix me." he said, and she felt herself slam into what felt like a very bumpy wall, and he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"CHAT NOIR- THIS IS NOT FUNNY, HOW COULD YOU EVER THINK-" she was interrupted by him clasping a hand over her mouth. Then she watched in terror as a purple light came into view before her, illuminating her surroundings in the shape of a butterfly, directly over his face.

He looked exactly the same except for his uniform was completely white now. He looked like he was concentrating on something, then he frowned and gave an impatient huff under his breath.

"Fine… I'll be there in a second."

"Chat?!" she cried, and he grabbed both of her wrists, beginning to drag her away as the light from the glowing purple butterfly disappeared. Panic rose up inside of her and she tried to kick away from him. But he quickly knocked her against the wall, and she winced as she felt her head crack against it. Then he pulled her up again and started to force her forward.

"Chat, please! You're the Akuma, aren't you?! I can help you! Or- Or I'll do whatever you want, okay?" he stopped for a moment and she gulped. "Let me see your ring for a second?" she said with a shaky voice, and he responded with a scoff. Then he pushed her onward and she tripped along, still confused as to where they were.

Then they turned a corner and she was bombarded by torch light in her eyes, and she shut them fast. Then she opened her eyes slowly, and held back a scream. Surrounding her was a cavern of precisely stacked bones, femurs upon femurs and skulls nestled in between.

"Th-The Catacombs?!" she breathed, her knees shaking. He pushed her against a stone pillar standing in the middle of the room, and he extended out his staff, forcing her against it so she couldn't move her arms. He moved her hair out of the way to better see her earrings, and she gulped. She couldn't let him take them away. Then there would be no one left to save the city and she'd become an Akuma like him most likely.

"It's time to see who you actually are, My Lady." he said quietly, his face solemn as he played with her hair. Her face turned pale. That was a good incentive towards an evil version of him… he obviously still liked her. What could she do to save herself?

She pursed her lips and then said quietly,

"Chat… I'll take them off, you don't have to." he frowned, not trusting her. She pleaded with her eyes to him, pouting a little as she said, "If I have to hand these over to you, I'd rather do it willingly. If I'm going to show you my identity, I'd rather do it by my own choice as much as possible…" She moved her face closer to his, staring into his eyes, which seemed to dilate a little. and his cheeks reddened.

"R-Really?" he said quietly, and she nodded. The purple butterfly quickly flashed across his eyes then, and he grit his teeth saying,

"It'll be fine, shut up!" Then he narrowed his eyes and pulled away his staff, freeing her from being stuck. She wasn't lying about showing her identity to him willingly. But she did really want to buy time now, perhaps when his back was turned. She reached up and carefully unclipped her earrings. A small burst of light occurred then, and she kept her eyes closed tightly and her lips pursed as she knew she had just transformed back into her regular self.

There was a clatter and she opened her eyes to see that he had dropped his staff. She looked up at him to see his eyes wide, almost terrified, but mostly stunned.

"What?" she said nervously, curling her fingers around her earrings. She should react now while his staff was dropped…

"M-Marinette?!" he stuttered, his hands shaking. She felt her stomach drop.

"Wh-What?! Why is it such a s-surprise?! Do we know each other as ordinary people or something?!" she yelped, feeling sick and nervous. "If so, then who are you?!"

He gaped at her for a moment and then reached down to his white ring on his glove. Hawkmoth's purple butterfly covered his face for a moment, as if it was frantically trying to distract him, but Chat grit his teeth, looking almost in pain as he ripped the ring off of his finger. There was an even bigger flash of light than normal, this one reverberated around the room in purple and white, and she stumbled backwards from the amount of energy that had just been shot at her. From his ring a white butterfly exploded out of it, jerking and twitching violently as if it had been forcibly ripped from it's black state, and it flew away through the catacombs. He'd broken the Akuma on himself. She didn't think anyone could even do that.

Marinette lowered her hand that had been covering her eyes, and before she had time to react, she was being caught up into a hug, her face pressed against soft blond hair, and shaking shoulders.

"Wh-what-" she stuttered, and he pulled away so she could see his face. Her jaw dropped.

"It's me! Adrien!" he laughed, and her face turned so red she felt like she was going to explode.

"Oh- My Lady, you saved me!" he cried, pulling her back for a hug, and she blinked. She could feel tears on her shoulder. He was actually crying. She didn't know how to feel. She was glad Chat was back to normal but… NOW HE WAS ADRIEN. THIS STILL WASN'T NORMAL.

"I could kiss you, in fact- I am going to kiss you- Thank you so much!" he continued to cry, and she felt him kiss her cheek in a polite way, holding her closer.

"Whaaaat…." was all she managed to squeak out, her footing on this situation completely lost.

"Well what are we doing, you have to clean up all this!" he said after he pulled away, a big happy Adrien smile on his face. She just stared at him.

"Hmm? Marinette? Are you alright? Come on, 'Ladybug'! Transform!" She just continued to stare and him and he made a face at her, raising an eyebrow. It was so Chat Noir like that she twitched, and she finally felt the smallest bit of acceptance creep into her. He seemed to finally understand why she was so shocked after a moment and said,

"You said it yourself, it's not that crazy of a coincidence that we know each other. Now I just have an excuse to flirt with you all the time, yes?" he laughed, blush on his cheeks, and she turned redder. This time more with annoyance. That comment was enough to work with.

"Alright you mangy cat, we'll deal with this later. Let's go fix the mess you made."

"Um- I think you mean the mess Hawkmoth made, right?" he said in mock offense.

"If that makes you feel better, d-dork." She had a hard time spitting out a snappy insult when it was Adrien's smiling face looking back at her.

He laughed back, but he seemed to have toned down his cheekiness too. Adrien and Chat were now clashing personalities in a bad way…

Marinette turned away, and started walking towards the exit, when she stopped.

"Wait, how do you remember what happened when you were an Akuma?"

("Shhhhh let the fanfic happen, it's fine." he said as he covered her mouth and the author nodded methodically behind him.)

He stopped, looking genuinely confused as well, when a coughing Plagg emerged from over his shoulder.

"That was awful…. You better get me a giant cheese wheel for that…. I want it as big as your head…. no…. bigger."  
"Plagg! Are you alright?" Adrien asked, cupping the small black Kwami in his hand.

"Sure… Just tired. But to answer her question, that transformation was out of the ordinary, that's why you can remember everything. It was trying to take over me! ME! I don't know if an Akuma and Miraculous have ever interacted like that before, so I'm sure the magic worked differently because of it. Besides, you broke that Akuma by yourself. That's out of the ordinary all on it's own." Plagg said, curling up into little ball as if he were about to fall asleep.

"Well… I needed to." Adrien said, looking up at Marinette with a smile. Half of her insides began screaming and crying, and the other half wanted to make a snarky comment. Over all she just wanted to run very far away.

"Hello Plagg! It's been awhile!" Tikki's voice sounded, and Marinette looked down in surprise to see her own small Kwami. She'd probably been there for awhile and just hadn't said anything at all.

"Ugh… I'm not responding to anything but cheese." Plagg muttered, but Adrien bit his lip, looking over joyed.

"Oh, she's so cute! I mean- sorry- er…. you're very sweet." he cooed over Tikki, who folded her arms, smiling at him.

"Thank you Chat." she said with a nod, and let him touch the top of her head.

"Yeah, you're welcome! I wish I had a Kwami who was actually nice." he muttered then, and Plagg yowled quietly for a moment.

"So Marinette… how are you doing?" Tikki said slyly, flying up to Marinette's face that turned red. "Will you tell him now?"

"Wh-Why should I?! I'm still in shock Tikki!"

"Tell me what?" Adrien said, raising an eyebrow and grinning at her.

"NOTHING!" Marinette snapped at him, at he looked devilishly curious. Tikki giggled and then said,

"Well I suppose now isn't the time anyways. You do have to clean up the mess of today. And I don't want to stay down here in the catacombs, they're a little off putting!" Marinette and Adrien agreed, nodding with stern faces.

"I guess we should just go home-" Marinette began to say, but then Adrien's face drained of color.

"WAIT!" he cried, touching her shoulder, and her eyes widened a little bit, surprised by his sudden cry.

"What? What's wrong?" she said nervously. He bit his lip and then looked down saying quietly,

"I can't go back home… he knows who I am now. He'll just be waiting for me."

"Well then… I guess we can go to my house." she said, shrugging, blush spreading across her cheeks.

His eyes lit up.

"That's a wonderful idea! Let's go! We can tell your parents that I'm coming over for dinner and then I'll… um…. sneak back inside I guess." he said, obviously trying to contain his enthusiasm. She groaned internally. She would have given anything for this before today. Now she was just embarrassed. She still was trying to figure out if she even liked him any more.

But then again, it wasn't like she hadn't liked Chat…

She shook her head violently trying to dispel the thoughts. He was her friend, and her partner, and he needed a place to hide. This would be fine.

"Okay… we'll have to pretend you got kidnapped going back from my house then to protect where you're hiding, because news about you travels fast around Paris." she said with a shrug.  
"I know, a curse I bear." he practically sparkled as he tossed his hair dramatically. She let out a snort and then tried to suppress it. It felt weird to laugh at his jokes like this.

"Alright, enough of that ridiculousness, let's go. It's getting late, and I actually do need to get home in time for dinner." She laughed nervously instead, and he smiled, his cheeks still glowing the tiniest bit.


	2. Chapter 2

"So you're a model for your father's company, aren't you Adrien?" her mother asked, smiling sweetly at the poor boy who was trying really hard to not be a burden. Marinette had brought him home explaining that she had bumped into him while at the library studying, and had invited him over for dinner because no one was at his own house.

That had made him laugh a little to himself sadly. It wouldn't have mattered anyways. He always ate alone.

"Yes. It's kind of fun but… it can take a lot of time out of my schedule." he answered politely, not wanting to lie. Marinette ate her dinner quietly, obviously trying to avoid eye contact with him. He was sure she was still trying to work through everything in her head. He was too. To be perfectly honest though, he was glad Ladybug had turned out to be Marinette. She was kind and courageous with and without a mask on. He thought back to all of the times he'd seen her stand up to Chloe and her antics, and how he'd always felt impressed by her thoughtful attitude towards the others in class. His face turned hot and he twisted his fork in the potatoes on his plate. He really needed help. He was falling for her even more than usual. And here he was, sitting in her house eating dinner with her family, he couldn't even comprehend it!

"I'm sure you're very busy! It doesn't surprise me you were out at the library so late!" Marinette's smiling father said, nodding.

"Marinette is strangely busy a lot too, but she's not a model. She has too much fun with her friends I suppose…" her mother laughed, her almond shaped eyes closing with a smile.

"Mama… I have a lot of school work too!" Marinette said with red cheeks, looking like this topic usually made her nervous.

"I know, I know… you do seem to finish things on time regardless, so I'm sure it's fine." her mother said, waving her off.

Adrien blinked at her for a moment, thinking about how no one ever asked if he was doing well in school or checked up on him to see if he was, he was just expected to.

"This is a wonderful dinner by the way, thank you Mrs. Cheng." he said quietly.

"Oh! You're welcome, I'm so glad you like it! You should come over and have dinner more often, it's nice to see more of Marinette's friends!" she said eagerly, and he ducked his head, blushing more. Marinette blushed as well and ate more potatoes.

(It was quite literally the blushing fest of all blushing fests, could they blush anymore? Blush blush blush)

"Thank you for the invitation…" he said quietly, looking down at his plate. He stared at it for a second. It really was delicious food. It wasn't gourmet, like the kind he had made for him at home every day. It was just good and warm. Maybe food 'made with love' was really a thing. The smile on his face slid down into a solemner expression then as he thought about this. He wished he could eat over everyday.

He then gulped. He didn't even know when he could go into public again. He'd have to be Chat Noir at all times if he didn't want to get caught by Hawkmoth. He felt sick to his stomach, still unsure about how this would all work out. This was the last time he could openly be 'Adrien Agreste' for awhile. A small smile came to the corner of his lips at that moment though. Maybe that wasn't too bad. Chat Noir was his time to let loose after all. Taking a long vacation from being Adrien could be really nice. Thank heavens they were about to go on holiday for school…. other wise he would be drowning in homework.

"Well, since we seem to be finished eating, how would you like to go down to the shop and pick out dessert Adrien?" Mr. Dupain asked, and Adrien looked surprised.

"Something from your store? I'd love to, I'm sure everything there is delicious!" They continued to chatter as they stacked dishes, and Adrien followed Marinette's father down stairs. He looked back at Marinette, but saw her mother was talking to her, so he turned and continued down to the shop.

"You should date him Marinette."

"MAMA."

Adrien waved goodbye to the little family as he muched on a chocolate croissant, stepping out onto the street. Marinette had told him about the trap door on top of her room, so he glanced up at the top of their apartment and then back to her, and she nodded.

"Are you sure you don't want a ride home sweetie?" Mrs. Cheng asked, and he shook his head.

"No, my chauffeur is coming to pick me up at the bus stop down the street. He should be here soon, but thank you!" he waved back and started to walk inconspicuously away. He waited until he heard the door shut and he turned around again, walking briskly up to the corner house. He looked up at the apartment he now had to scale, and pursed his lips. This would definitely be easier as Chat.

"Hey, Plagg, wake up." he whispered, and Plagg groaned, poking his head out of Adrien's side bag.

"What?"

"Let's transform, just for a minute, alright?"

"No, go away, you only gave me a little cheese to eat at dinner…."

"Well I wasn't just going to ask them for their whole cheese block, was I? Come on, just for a minute? Then I'm sure Lady can help find more."

"You're lyinnngggggg….."

"Plagg. I'm not going to scale a wall in tennis shoes."

"It would be funny to watch."

Adrien rolled his eyes and gripped the wall, determined to get up it anyways.

"Okay! Okay! Don't hurt yourself!" Plagg sighed, emerging from the side bag. They quickly transformed and Adrien nimbly jumped up the wall, his staff aiding him as he jumped from window to window. They reached the top and Marinette was standing there waiting for him.

"Hello Princess." he said with a swooping bow and she rolled her eyes, smiling.

"It's easier to talk to you when you're Chat…" she said, and he grinned at her.

"I'm the same person you know."

"Well you sure don't act like it." she said quietly, and he straightened up, biting his lip. They were both quiet for a second and then she moved to the side saying,

"Well I'm not completely sure where you can sleep, and I don't think you should stay outside up here. My closet is big enough for someone to hide in I guess." Her cheeks were red and he laughed to himself about how awkward this all was.

"That sounds fine! You design a lot of your clothes right? If I can't sleep I can just enjoy your fashion sense if nothing else." he said brightly, and her cheeks turned redder.

"S-Sure." They stood there in silence for a moment more, and the sounds of Paris echoed around them, lights glittering in the distance around them, and Adrien felt warm inside.

Sure this was awkward, but he also felt like he was on a kind of happy high. A lot of bad things were happening, but this was still the best day he'd had in a long time. Marinette rubbed the back of her head for a second, wincing a little, and his heart stopped.

"Oh… Marinette I completely forgot! I hurt you earlier, didn't I? Forgive me will you? That was frightening."

"Oh, it's alright! I've just got a few bumps is all! I'm just glad it all ended well!" she shook her head smiling at him. She used this break in the silence to turn towards her room and he followed her, not knowing what else to do or say.

Her room was adorable, but he didn't tell her that. She grabbed a pillow from her bed and a blanket from a shelf, handing it to him. He smiled.

"Thank you so much. As soon as we find Hawkmoth and get rid of him, I promise I'll leave and only come visit you on a once a week basis." he joked, and she gave him a warning look.

"No thank you kitty." she sighed, opening the door to her closet. He laughed lightly again and stepped inside the closet filled with clothes. She helped him spread out a blanket, and went to go get more pillows. Adrien transformed back into his normal self, and Plagg appeared again, looking grumpy.

"Um… Marinette, do you have any cheese? Plagg is hungry and kind of annoyed." he asked her as she turned the corner. She jumped for a second, seeing him sitting there as Adrien, and then she breathed a quick sigh of relief.

"Sure… I'll go grab some. Here's some more pillows." she said with a nod, dumping a bunch of pillows at his feet. He thanked her and then started to lay them out.

"So, your crush is the girl who sat behind you is she? How are you feeling about that?" Plagg asked Adrien, looking a little more happy now that cheese was coming. Adrien glanced out the door to make sure she was gone, and let himself smile like an idiot.

"It's wonderful Plagg. I know everything is kind of awkward right now, but I'm still so over joyed I can't even hold it in. She's so amazing…" he buried his face in the spotted pillow she had handed him, trying to contain himself.

"You're ridiculous. And I don't think she likes you very much. She almost seems mad." Plagg said, rolling his eyes, and Adrien made a face at him.

"I think she just feels surprised, like me. We really are very different people… Chat and Adrien. Hmm…. she probably doesn't know who to trust." Adrien said thoughtfully, making a mental note to apologize to her. "And even if she doesn't like me very much, this is just the start of a story. Now we'll see eachother every day and know each other… who we really are. I've never had that before, Plagg! No one has ever really known everything about me!" he added brightly, hugging the pillow. The Kwami scoffed and said in an offended tone,

"What about me, huh?! Do I not count?!"

"You're too disagreeable to count." Adrien said with a smirk, tapping Plagg on the head, who made a face at him.

"Well if you want to get to know her, now is the perfect opportunity. Look at all this stuff! I bet this is where she keeps her secrets." Plagg said, darting over to a box sitting in the corner, decorated with simple little designs.

"Hey! She's letting me stay here, I'm not going to thank her by going through all of her stuff, Plagg!" Adrien tried to grab him, but Plagg dove into the box, and he could hear papers rustling. "Plagg! I swear! You're too much trouble! Get out-"

"Hey, isn't this your handwriting?" Plagg asked, ignoring Adrien as his face appeared under the lid, poking a scrap of paper out of the box.

"….Yeah. It is…" Adrien said quietly, looking at the piece of homework in surprise. It was one of Marinette's drawings for a dress design. They were supposed to have critiqued each other's work. Adrien looked at the small note he had written on the design.

'I really like the red accents you added on the hems, it brings it all together. If you ever made the dress, I'm sure you'd look cute in it!'

"Well that's probably where she keeps her designs Plagg. Get out of her stuff."

"I don't know… I'm finding a lot of interesting stuff in here-"

"Plagg!" he reached in and grabbed the Kwami with his fist, pulling him out of the box and putting back the drawing. He was just closing the lid when he heard Marinette come back into her room and he quickly pushed the box as far away from him as possible, his face red as a tomato. Luckily she hadn't noticed. Otherwise he might have strangled Plagg.

"This is all I could find. Somebody gave this to us as a Christmas present but we don't like this kind very much so-"

"CAMEMBERT!" Plagg cried, shooting up towards Marinette who was holding a good sized wheel of cheese.

She looked surprised but then broke into a grin, laughing lightly.

"I'm glad you're happy with that."

"Bless you!" Plagg said happily, and Adrien wrinkled his nose.

"Plagg you better eat that fast, or far away from me. I won't be able to sleep with that awful smell." he complained, and Plagg chuckled mischievously to himself. Marinette smiled and set it on the desk beside the closet door.

"I'll leave it here for you. Goodnight! And don't worry Chat… er… Adrien. We'll start searching for Hawkmoth as soon as possible."

"Thank you, My Lady." he said with an almost sad smile, and she turned around, turning off the light.

"You're welcome."

He laid down on this little makeshift bed, staring up at the dark ceiling as Plagg left him to go enjoy his Camembert. His heart felt all fluttery inside of his chest. He didn't care that he was going into hiding. He was sure that his father would worry…. or at least he hoped he would worry a little more than he thought he would. But he was about to spend so much time with Marinette, his Ladybug! Everything would be okay now…

Marinette was awoken from her mid-sleep when she heard Adrien say quietly from across her room,

"Marinette? I'm sorry I have two personalities. Chat is the only way I get to… well… you're probably asleep. Never mind."

She didn't know what to say, so she just listened, waiting for him to say more.

"Désolé." was all he added, sounding quiet and a little sad.

Marinette pursed her lips. That just made her feel depressed. It was true that she had spent the whole night trying to comprehend that he was Chat, and she was a little annoyed at him. She didn't know what personality was actually him, and it made her feel a little betrayed by her friend. But at the same time, she knew that she felt like a different person as Ladybug. Maybe he was just a little more extreme than she was.

She thought about this for a long time. She didn't know how long exactly, but she could hear quiet breathing, so he must have fallen asleep finally. Her whole self began to sink into unconsciousness as well, feeling confused, but having a strange peaceful feeling take over her heart and mind before she fell completely asleep. Everything would be alright.

Marinette's breathing slowed, and the shadows outside covered her as she began to dream. She could hear voices. Random murmurings. Then she felt something brush the side of her face and touch her ear.

"Chat, I swear…" she said in her half sleep, pulling the covers closer to her to hide her ears. But the feeling of someone touching her ear continued, and in her sleep stooper, she frowned in confusion. But then her eyes snapped open when she heard Tikki shriek in her small, high voice.

"MARINETTE!"

The girl woke up instantly. And then she screamed too, but a hand clamped over her mouth before she made too much noise.

It was Hawkmoth. And he had her Miraculous earrings in his hand.


	3. Chapter 3

Adrien frowned in his sleep, feeling something tugging at his hair. He sleepily swatted at it, and then felt it grab ahold of his finger.

"Adrien, you need to wake up RIGHT NOW." came a quiet hiss in his ear and blinked to consciousness, confused. The first thing he saw was the two forms of Tikki and Plagg dancing before his eyes and looking terrified.

"Wha-" he was cut off by them both covering his mouth with their tiny hands. Then he heard the cold voice from outside of the closet.

"You forgot that as long as I'm in control of someone, I can see exactly what they see, 'Ladybug'. I'm surprised you let your guard down so easily."

Adrien's stomach dropped and he quickly crawled over to the door to see that the window was open, and Hawkmoth was standing there, hand over Marinette's mouth as she tried to break free. He was holding her right in front of the window though. She was kicking, trying to hit him, and crying out for help in a muffled voice.

"You're helpless now though, aren't you? I'll be leaving, now that I have your Miraculous. Feel free to get upset over it, I'm sure an akuma Ladybug would be a wonderful ally." Adrien narrowed his eyes, seeing the red earrings in Hawkmoth's hand.

"Plagg." he said below a whisper, and the kwami didn't even wait to react. He was already heading towards Adrien's ring.

Marinette was trying to kick him, but all he did was move her closer to the edge of the window. She stopped for a moment. If she broke free now, she'd be tumbling down a story to the cobblestone below. If she just got her earrings back…

"At the same time however, I don't want another disaster like Chat Blanc. It may be better just to get rid of you for good." Hawkmoth said, looking angry, and she gulped, feeling nervousness take over.

A glint of green caught her vision then however, and she looked over Hawkmoth's shoulder to see Chat Noir standing in the door of her closet, his green eyes positively burning with anger.

"Thanks for playing games with me, but I'm tired." Hawkmoth said darkly, and she felt him suddenly shove her till she was leaning out of the window. She gave a yelp, his hand closing around her neck instead of her mouth.

"CHAT, HELP!" she screamed, and was immediately answered by a battle cry.

Hawkmoth spun around, just to have Chat Noir hit him square in the chest with his boots. He let go of Marinette, who screamed again, scrambling for the edge, and nearly falling out of the window frame. But Chat reached out, grabbing her hand and pulling her back into her room.

'Careful My Lady!" he said, as she stood up trembling, her heart nearly beating out of her chest. She snapped herself out of it though, and turned her attention to Hawkmoth, who was still on the ground, looking frantically on the ground.

"He dropped my Miraculous!" she cried, and Chat ran at Hawkmoth with his staff outstretched yelling,

"Then find them!"

Marinette and Hawkmoth saw them at the same time however. They both dove for them, right as Chat pounced on Hawkmoth. There was an awful collision of staff and heads, and all three of them rolled across the floor. Chat fell a few feet from the other two, and rubbed his head for a moment, looking back up.

Hawkmoth had grabbed Marinette by the collar and was yelling,

"I REFUSE TO LET YOU TAKE THEM!"

Marinette grit her teeth and cried out as her head hit the floor hard, his arms forcing her down fast. But in the palm of her hand, the earrings dug into her skin, safe.

It was then that Marinette heard her parents. She'd completely forgotten that they were still there. She'd forgotten this was her own bedroom.

Her head was woozy though, and she shut her eyes, holding on tight to her earrings. She could hear Adrien yelling too, and it sounded like he had attacked Hawkmoth. She scrunched her eyes together, really feeling a headache come on, and all of the sudden felt Adrien picking her up. She felt weightless for a moment, and then drooped against his shoulder, not knowing what was going on around her.

Adrien jumped across buildings nimbly, carrying Marinette. He'd lost Hawkmoth, who was not as physically inclined as they were, at least a few blocks ago. He was surprised the villain hadn't sent Akuma after them, but he was sure that it was probably because of how many times he'd failed at that. If you want something done, do it yourself…

"Do you think she'll be alright?" he asked the small red Kwami who had not moved from being curled up under Marinette's chin.

"Yes… thanks to you. We were both in trouble back there." she said, looking up at him. He smiled sadly, hopping to one more roof before setting her down against a wall.

"Marinette? Hello?" he asked, and she frowned a little. "Lady…" he was worried. She had gotten knocked in the head badly twice within 24 hours. There was a good chance she had a slight concussion. He sighed, sitting down and pulling her up against him so she didn't have to sit against the cold wall. He was tired. It had to be like 2 in the morning… he groaned and decided he should transform back into his regular self. There was no point in wearing Plagg out already. Soon he was back to normal and Marinette was half in his lap, still unconscious.

Adrien reached into his pocket and pulled out her earrings, which he had taken from her fingers as they were running away. He clipped them back in for her, and she seemed to breath a little easier, her shoulders relaxing.

"Plagg, Tikki, could you two… stay on guard…" he yawned, slumping against the wall and closing his eyes.

"Hey! I'm tired too, you know!" Plagg snapped, but Tikki cheerily said,

"Of course! Get some sleep, you may need to fight tomorrow after all!" Adrien mumbled a thank you and slowly drifted off to sleep, Marinette in his lap.

—

Marinette yawned, her eyes slowly opening up to sunlight hitting them. She had that strange feeling on her skin that you get after you go camping and sleep in a tent. Where the outside of your skin is cold, but you still feel like you are at a good internal temperature. She looked around, and all she could see was the sky, white fluffy clouds against a blue background.

Her whole body moved up and down a little then, and she realized she was leaning against someone. She moved her head to see that it was Adrien, bags under his closed eyes, and hair a mess. For a second, her heart exploded and she felt a numbness over take her, but then she remembered everything that had happened the day before. She sat up and watched him sleep for a bit, frowning in concentration. He had saved her from Hawkmoth… who had almost taken her Miraculous-

She gasped and reached up to her ears, but thankfully was welcomed by the smooth texture of the small earrings. It looked like she owed Adrien even more than her life, which was pretty hard to pay back in the first place.

She continued to sit and watch him however, thinking over everything that had happened now that she had a good night's rest and a fresh perspective.

Adrien was Chat, and Chat was Adrien, and the more she thought about it, the more clear it became… even if she was still confused as to why his personalities were so different. The fact stood that he had gotten her out of that mess last night, and was definitely her friend no matter what, so she felt warm and fuzzy inside.

"Good Morning Marinette! How are you feeling?" came Tikki's voice, and she looked up to see Kwami sitting above them beside a snoring Plagg.

"My head hurts a little… but I'm alright. What happened last night?" she asked quietly, not wanting to wake up the sleeping Adrien.

Tikki flew down to her hand and landed in her palm saying,

"Well Adrien knew he had to get you out of there… And he knew you had your Miraculous back, so as soon as he could, he climbed out of the window with you. Hawkmoth chased us for awhile, but he couldn't keep up.

"Oh… And- And do you know if my parents are okay?" she asked nervously, feeling a heavy weight come down onto her shoulders.

"I was worried about them too… but I sent Plagg to go check on them and it looks like they just went to the police. We should contact them and tell them that they need to stay hidden, or protected at least. We should do the same for Adrien's father as well. These are the bad things that come from having your identities revealed… I'm sorry." Tikki said quietly, looking sad. Marinette closed her eyes and gulped, nodding her head.

She crossed her legs and stared at Adrien, thinking over everything again. She wanted to wake him up so they could figure out this whole mess but… she also didn't want to wake him up. He looked so tired.

"Tikki, what should I do? I've wanted to confess to Adrien for so long, and now I don't know if I'll ever want to…" Marinette said quietly after a moment. She felt silly for thinking about that kind of thing right now, but it was still driving her up the wall inside. Tikki laughed and replied,

"Well you can't go wrong, he likes you too."

"No Tikki, I CAN go wrong. How can I have a crush on half of a person?"

The Kwami rolled her eyes and sighed,

"Oh I think you liked Chat a lot more than you thought you did."

"What?! No I didn't!"  
"Sometimes I think you liked him even more than Adrien…"

"That's not true!" They stared at eachother for a moment and then Marinette turned away, her face burning up.

"Oh my gosh, is that true?" she hissed to herself quietly. As she began to question her entire existence and standing in life, Adrien shifted in his sleep and she looked back at him.

He brought up the back of his hand and rubbed his eyes, yawning, and his green eyes slowly cracked open.

He looked over at her and smiled weakly, making her palms sweaty and her face hotter than before.

"Bonjour Princesse." he said brightly, and then sat up, stretching out his arms. "How is your head? I was worried you might have gotten a concussion or something." he said, his face serious and concerned.

"Oh- It- It's fine! It aches a little bit, but I'm okay! Thanks to you I'm still alive so…" she stuttered, suddenly feeling incredibly flustered. Tikki grinned mischievously at her and Marinette swore she'd get back at her for doing this.

"Of course, you're welcome! I'd never leave you behind!" he laughed, looking relieved. She smiled nervously, and then coughed, returning to a pressing matter.

"Adrien, we need to warn our parents to stay hidden or under protection. If Hawkmoth knows who we are, he could go after them." she said seriously, and his eyes widened a little.

"Oh my gosh… you're right, I never thought of that. What should we do?"

"I think going to the police is the best option. After that we need to get on Hawkmoth's trail." she said with a shrug. Adrien rolled his eye a little and sighed,

"Great, I have no leads."

"Me neither, we may have to wait for him to come to us."

"Looks like it…" he sighed, leaning back against the roof and thinking. Then he looked over at her and said,

"Well, let's go eat something for breakfast and then head to the police department."

"Okay… What… do you want to eat?" she said quietly, her betraying blush reappearing. He stood up and offered his hand, which she took, and he pulled her up saying,

"How about we go find a street vendor? I'm sure they'll have something nice to try."

"That sounds good… Should we transform?" she wondered, not sure how fast the news traveled.

"I'm sure we'll be okay for just a little bit… Come on, I see some down there!" he pointed to the street below them where a small amount of wandering people could be seen. She looked at Tikki, who was still giving her a sneaky grin, and watched the little red head bob up and down in excitement. She sighed and tried to ignore her little shoulder companion.

Luckily the building was not very tall at all, and there were some fire escapes, so they got to the ground together okay, (Adrien still hadn't been able to wake up the stubborn Plagg, so he'd simply stuffed him into his pocket) and then they walked around the side of the building.

"Ooh! Look Tartines! I've never had one from a street vendor before!" Adrien said in excitement, pointing towards a little shop where an old man was laying out the fresh slices of bread and setting up the different ingredients you could put on it.

"Really? Well it's time you tried it!" she said, excited to share good food with Adrien, who apparently was more sheltered than she thought…

She grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the street vendor, explaining the different kinds, which ones were her favorites, and so on. He kept looking at her with a big grin on his face, nodding excitedly, his eyes bright, and asking her questions.

"These are great for lunch, but for breakfast maybe we should just have the sweeter ones…" she said as she pointed to the different kinds, and then added sheepishly, "Or maybe I have too much of a sweet tooth…."

"Sounds good to me!" he laughed, shrugging his shoulders. She smiled back at him, feeling her whole self vibrate with warmth and happy feelings. She felt like a sledgehammer had just broken down the awkward wall between them, just by buying Tartines together. She felt good about making it through the day with him now.

They bought their Tartines, and an extra one with as much cheese as they could fit onto it for Plagg who had started to poke his head out of Adrien's pocket curiously. Tikki only wanted a strawberry, so Marinette added one on top of hers.

They quickly made their way into a little cafe, with no one inside except for the owner in the back who was sweeping up behind the counter. They got a cup of tea each inside, and sat at a small table away from the windows.

Marinette was looking absentmindedly across the cafe as she chewed on her tartine, when she heard the sound of a camera snap. She looked back at Adrien to see him taking a photo of her, grinning.

"What are you doing?!" she said suspiciously, and he tapped on his screen, silent but smiling. Then he turned around and took a selfie with him and her both in it.

"Taking pictures of our first date!" he said with accomplishment, and she pursed her lips in frustration and embarrassment, not sure if she wanted to hit him or blush like an idiot.

"This- this isn't a date!" she spluttered, setting down her tartine.

"I asked you if you wanted to get food and you said yes and now we're here, so it's a date." he said contently, leaning against the wall of the cafe and saving the picture.

"You stupid cat…" she muttered, her face red as she tried to finish her tea. He stuck out his tongue cheekily, sending the pictures to her phone which beeped. She pulled it out and said quietly,

"I didn't know you had my phone number…"

"We had that project in class once and I had to get it. You flipped out when I asked you for it, I remember."

"I DID NOT FLIP OUT!" she cried, mortified.

"Yeah you did." he said, biting his lip with a very Chat Noir like smirk. She bit into her tartine so her mouth was full, chewing it like a robot as she looked back down at her phone.

The pictures were cute.

They managed to finish their breakfast without talking about the fact that they had hundreds of messages on their phones from their friends and families, wondering where they were and if they were okay, and instead joked with each other about random things.

They were packing up when the little tv in their corner of the shop started showing the news, and they both stopped to look at it's screen.

"Authorities are completely baffled by the disappearance of two Parisian teens last night and are calling on the public to help find them Although the two are classmates, their disappearances are too different to be connected and occurred at different times, so the possibility of them being together is unlikely."

"Hah, they thought we may have been runaway lovers, Marinette." he laughed quietly, nudging her with his shoulder, and she made a face at him, her cheeks red.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng disappeared early this morning around 2:00 when her family was awoken by yelling and crashing noises. When her parents arrived upstairs however, their daughter was nowhere to be found and her room a mess." the tv screen flashed a picture of her room, trashed indeed with the window wide open.

"Adrien Agreste, son of local fashion designer Gabriel Agreste, also went missing last night, and incidentally, was last seen at the Dupain-Cheng home!" the news report went on, and a video of Marinette's parents suddenly appeared on screen.

"Adrien had dinner with us last night and left around 8:00… he said he was going to be picked up by his chauffeur… We hope he and our daughter can be found soon. We're sure Mr. Agreste is just as worried as we are. Please come home Marinette!" her father said, holding her mother who was rubbing tears from her eyes. Marinette hung her head, feeling depressed. She looked over at Adrien, who had gulped, and bit his lip, concentrating at the tv screen.

"Despite where Adrien was last seen, the two disappearances are still considered to not be connected for now, although the coincidence is incredible." Adrien stared up at the screen in anticipation, and she looked at him curiously.

"Gabriel Agreste was unavailable for comment." The newscaster said the words short and precisely, and continued on with her news report, and Adrien's shoulders slid down just a fraction.

"Let's go." he said quietly to her, his face calm and expressionless, reaching for his bag. She felt sick to her stomach. She knew what he'd been waiting for.


	4. Chapter 4

"They're right in here, have been since this morning!" Chat Noir and Ladybug followed the policeman through the station's hallway, nearing a door up ahead. Marinette stopped just before they reached the door however, her heart pounding a little as she grabbed Adrien's wrist. He stopped and looked back at her with surprise.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly, and the policeman stopped too, waiting for them.

"…I've never talked to them as Ladybug…" she said barely above a whisper, looking up at Adrien's glowing green eyes. She had an almost sick feeling in her stomach.

These were her parents, the people who saw her everyday and knew her better than anyone else. If anyone could recognize her, they could.

Adrien pursed his lips together and nodded, understanding what she meant.

"I'll do the talking, alright?" he said, squeezing her shoulder a little to comfort her.

"Thank you." she said, closing her eyes. Then, as an act of precaution, she tugged out her ponytails, her hair falling into place around her face.

She looked back up at Chat Noir who was looking at her with a happy fanboyish smile, and she scrunched her nose at him.

"I always wanted to see your hair down, My Lady." he laughed lightly, and she pushed him forward ahead of her, hands against his shoulder blades.

"Just keep on moving, cat."

"Mrow."

They walked into the room and Marinette kept her eyes down, standing behind Adrien who went first to face her parents.

"Oh! Ladybug! Chat Noir! Have you found anything at all about Marinette-" they immediately started asking, looking hopeful.

"N-No…. I'm sorry… We… we came to tell you something important." he said, and their faces fell. Marinette wanted to say something, anything at all, but the words stuck in her throat in fear, and she felt tears coming to her eyes. She was sick, thinking that they were so worried about her. She wanted to tell them. She wanted to run to them right then and there, and tell them everything. But just telling Adrien had already caused too much harm. She didn't want to risk anything else.

"Uh… the- the person that took Marinette is holding her for a reason, and we know he may try to come for you as well. So we need you to hide for now, don't go back home unless you have police with you." Adrien told them solemnly, and she only glanced up for a moment to see the fear in their eyes.

"B-But!" she finally choked out, her voice strange, which was probably for the best. "She's safe. We know she's safe. We know who did this, we just need to find them and get her back, but I promise you this will all end soon." she blurted out, looking away from her parents.

She felt fingers curl around her own then and she looked down to see that Adrien had reached back to grab her hand. It was then that she noticed her cheeks felt a little wet, her tears having finally rolled off of her mask and hit her skin.

"Ladybug…" she heard her mother whisper, and she couldn't stand to be there any longer and not hug them. She turned on her heels and ran out of the room.

"Ladybug!" Adrien called to her, sounding a little upset as well, but she closed the door behind her. She stood with her back against it, listening to them talk after she had left.

"What's wrong? Why is she so upset?" her father asked, sounding concerned.

"She… She's just upset because Marinette got taken. She…. tried to save her, but they got away. It was hard for her to come talk to you about it." Adrien fudged the truth, and Marinette gave a low shaky sigh. It was kind of true. The longer they couldn't find Hawkmoth, the longer they had to wait to go back home and pretend their civilian selves were trapped. She was upset.

And what happened when they did catch him? Because she swore she would…. but if so, he was probably going to give away their identities before he got locked up. Then what?

She clenched her hands into fists. Then all of Paris would just have to deal with it, that's what. She was honestly too frustrated to care too much. She'd just go live in a secret mansion with Adrien or something-

"AUGH GET YOUR HEAD TOGETHER- WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!" she cried out in frustration, just as the door opened. Adrien stood there in his black suit, raising an eyebrow at her in confusion. She couldn't even look at him.

"Ladybug?" he asked, genuinely curious at her red cheeks.

"N-Nothing- let's go tell Your- you- I mean- ugh! LET'S GO DO THE NEXT THING." she spluttered, frustrated, grabbing his wrist and pulling him away.

"Ladybug, thank you so much for all you've done!" she heard her mother call after her, and she glanced back for a moment, biting her lip and half smiling with a nod.  
"I'll bring her home… I promise!" she cried, pulling Adrien faster behind her.

They ran out of the police department and she pulled him quickly down the street until she noticed that he was dragging his feet and she stopped, looking back at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked her once they had stopped and she swallowed hard.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she said cooly, looking away from him, her undone hair shielding her eyes from him.

"Alright. I think my dad is home around this time, he should be in his studio designing or something." Adrien said, and she collected herself.

"Okay, I'll do the talking for you now, like you did for me." she said with a smile, but he only looked a little sad, his shoulders slipping.

"Well…" he said quietly, and she raised an eyebrow. "I don't think my dad would recognize me anyways. Don't worry about it." Marinette felt her stomach take an icy plunge into pity and depression then, and she regretted having ever said anything. They started walking side by side and she said quietly,

"Adrien… do you and your dad… fight?"

He shook his head. Marinette bit her lip and wondered if she should pry anymore.

"I barely even see him, when are we supposed to fight?" he sighed like he didn't care, but that only made it worse.

"I'm sorry. He seems like a really busy person."  
"Yeah, he is." They walked further on, ignoring all of the staring faces around them. They weren't usually seen out and about unless they were fighting Akuma.

They turned a street corner however, to find a crowd of people all watching a tv screen broadcasting the news.

"What's going on?" Marinette asked, standing on her red toes.

"Looks like it's just the kidnapping story…" Adrien sighed, but stopped after a moment when a certain voice reached his ears.

"Of course I miss him. Is that all you wanted to hear?!"

Gabriel Agreste was on the news. and his hair was uncombed, as if his fingers had run through it over and over again. Adrien gaped at the screen. The last time he had seen his father's hair messed up like that was when… Adrien had been very sick three years before. He'd been confined to his bed for weeks, and barely had the strength to open his eyes. But he remembered that Gabriel had come to see him once. He'd woken up to see his father standing on the side of his bed, his face still, but his hair tousled badly.

"And he's on the news…" Adrien breathed to himself, almost frightened by this.

"Why can't you people leave me alone?! The only thing I want to hear from you is that my son has been found!" the man was furious, that was apparent. Adrien didn't even realize he had reached up to his chest until Marinette had touched his hand.

"I just want Adrien to come home… that's all I care about right now… I just want… to see him." Gabriel said, sounding exhausted as he tried to turn away from the cameras.

Marinette turned to see Adrien take a step back, his eyes wide and almost scared looking. He fell back away from the crowd, into a small street between buildings where no one was walking, and she followed him, not completely sure if he was okay or not.

"Adrien? Are you alright?" she asked him as he backed up against a wall, hugging his own arms. She had now switched him roles. Now she was the one trying to comfort him.

He slowly nodded, and she watched his face turn red. But not in a blushing way. Like the way you look before you start to cry.

"I want to tell him… or… at least go see him… or- I- I just want to let him know I'm okay- he- he's worried about me… he's worried." Adrien mumbled more to himself than her and she watched as tears came to his eyes.

"Oh- Adrien!" she cried in surprise, not expecting this. The tears dripped down his mask and rolled onto the ground below. She couldn't stand it. He was the last person she wanted to see cry. And yet seeing it made her feel so much closer to him.

Marinette raised her hands up to his wet cheeks and brushed away his tears and he broke down into laughter and tears.

"Oh heavens- this is so embarrassing. I-I'm sorry M'Lady, I'll pull myself together."

"N-No… you don't have to…. don't worry." she stuttered, shaking her head and wiping away more of his tears, pulling his head down to her shoulder. She held him there and he slowly pulled her into a hug, burying his face into her neck.

"Thank you." he mumbled quietly. "I guess it's strange to hear about people's personal lives…" he added after a moment, and she raised an eyebrow, even though he couldn't see it. "I'm pretty sure Nino was the only one who had the slightest idea that my dad and I weren't close. I never really told anyone."

She blushed, after having a short little flash of a reminder that this was Adrien Agreste crying on her shoulder. She kept forgetting when he was in his uniform.

""W-Well… I knew." she stuttered weakly, her bashfulness returning as she once again remembered this was the boy she'd had a crush on for the longest time. She wished they could just combine into the same person in her head already… instead of switching back and forth in her mind.

"You knew?" he asked, surprised as he pulled his head back, his green eyes looking like glass as his tears made them watery. Her blush deepened, which made him blush as well, and she quickly came back with,

"O-Of course! I sat right behind you Adrien! I saw every time you sat down and looked depressed, I heard you calling your dad and just getting his answering machine, and the few times I've seen you in public with him you'd just follow him around looking like you were walking on eggshells!" he was biting his lip and she added quietly,

"And I saw how happy you were when you got that scarf….." she said hoarsely, tears coming to her eyes as well. _'The one I made…'_ she wanted to say. She wanted to confess to him right now. He already liked her- why couldn't she just say she liked him now?!

She took a deep breath. This was it. She'd do it.

"Adrien… you never seemed to notice but… for the longest time I just… Adrien I really-"

"WHAT are you two DOING?" came the last- _the last_ \- voice on earth that Marinette wanted to hear that moment.

"Now is not the time to start some kind of romance when my precious Adrien is missing, what's wrong with you-"

"chLOE FREAKING BOURGEOIS. I WILL END YOU-" Adrien had to cover Marinette's mouth and pull her away so she wouldn't hurt the blond.

"What do you mean _start_ a romance, Chloe?" he said cheekily, and Marinette barely had the heart to make a face at him.

"I demand you bring Adrien back right now, I was going to ask him to the ball for school and now he's MISSING!" Chloe continued on, ignoring what he'd said with a stamp of her foot. Marinette watched him press his tongue to the wall of his cheek, raising one cynical eyebrow at the blond girl throwing a fit over the fact that she couldn't ask him to a ball. Not because he could be in trouble. Just because she wanted to ask him out.

"Well you know what Chloe? I'm actually on speaking terms with Adrien, and he already told me that he asked Marinette to the ball." he said with his arms folded, and both of the girls looked at him with wide eyes.

"WHAT?!" Chloe screeched, and several people passing by glanced over in surprise.

"Wh-What?" Marinette gasped weakly. It shouldn't have surprised her that much now that Chat had finally figured out who his Ladybug was, but at the same time, the words 'Adrien already asked Marinette to the Ball' made her want to pass out.

"But she can't even look straight at him, let alone make an intelligent comment when he's around! She's too busy tripping over herself to get her own crush to notice her-"

"OKAY- WE'VE GOTTA GO- FIGHT CRIME AND STUFF- BYE CHLOE- YOUR FRIENDS WILL BE BACK SOON- GOODBYE." Marinette practically screamed at the girl, shoving her as non violently as she could out of the alley way. "COME ON CHAT- WE'VE WASTED A LOT OF TIME ALREADY-" she grasped his wrist and pulled him away at a run.

—-

She hadn't looked at him the whole way to the Agreste mansion. They landed on the roof and neither said anything as they breathed heavily, wiping sweat off their brows. When she finally caught her breath from running so far, she looked back at him slowly… and her worst nightmare was realized.

His face was red. But not so much from running. And he was just kind of staring at her. She melted, looking away with her face in her hands, cursing Chloe Bourgeois under her breath. She was going to tell him… she had actually plucked up enough courage to tell him.

"You should go talk to your dad." she muttered, and he gave a curt nod, swinging his leg over the edge of the building and beginning to lower himself down to the window underneath. They'd known that his dad would best be caught by a surprise visit due to how hard it was to get ahold of him officially. Marinette folded her arms, watching as he propped himself up on the side of the building, about to drop down onto the balcony below him.

Then he stopped and drew himself up on his arms, leaning against the wall and looking up at her saying,

"Hey… Mari?" she was a little taken aback by the sudden nickname and took a few steps forward till she stood before him.

"Yes?" she asked hoarsely, finally meeting the green orbs looking up at her. Then he pushed himself forward with his hands and knocked his lips against hers, making her take half a step just to steady herself. Her brain exploded.

It felt…. so good. Marinette couldn't help it. She kissed him back, her palms digging into the side of the building to brace herself. He broke away suddenly with a strangled yelp then, slipping down a few inches, and she cried out and grabbed him around his shoulders to keep him from falling off of the building.

"D-Don't fall off you dummy!" she stammered a laugh, and he scrambled up the wall till he was back on the roof, laughing too. Then he pulled her close to him and kissed her again, and she stood as high as she could on her toes so she could reach him better. He was so tall…

Adrien pulled away and kissed her forehead, nestling his nose against hers and holding her close to him. She felt like she might pass out, and also that her whole self was vibrating more than was necessary. She couldn't tell if he was shaking from holding her, or if he was trembling himself.

"I'm sorry Chloe confessed for you." he laughed lightly, and she gave a little frustrated groan, still smiling however.

"To be perfectly honest, I probably would have chickened out anyways…" she laughed in defeat, and he laughed silently, his breath tickling her face.

"Look at us… we're ridiculous." he said after a moment, and she smiled.

"We were running around in circles, weren't we?" she felt like crying and laughing at the same time. He kissed her forehead, and she smiled again, laying her head close against him so she could hear his heartbeat.

"I'm glad we tripped so we could see what we were doing." he said quietly and she hugged him tighter.

It was a few minutes of him holding her before she pushed him away saying lightly,

"Alright- Alright- you've gotta talk to your dad Adrien." he looked at her with a half smile, his eyes looking upset however, begging her to change her mind, and she had the overwhelming desire to just drag him down for more kisses. To heck with all their responsibilities.

"No…" she told him quietly, smiling a little with a sad expression as well. He sighed and let go of her, walking to the edge of the building again.

"Did you want me to come Adrien?" she asked him before he went over the side. He swallowed hard and shook his head a little.

"No. I want to talk to him by myself for once." He said quietly and she nodded. Then she gave him a kiss on the cheek and he blushed, looking at her like she was the sun itself.

Then she watched as the smiling green eyes disappeared over the edge of the building and dropped down to the balcony below. She braced herself against the edge, watching him leave, and she gave a content sigh, smiling like the idiot she knew she was.


	5. Chapter 5

Adrien's feet landed softly on the carpet of his room. He had messed with the alarm system of his home so that he could slip in and out of his room as Chat Noir easily, so when he'd jumped down onto the balcony he'd been able to climb further down to his room.

He opened the door to the hallway and was greeted by a silent house, no one, not even a maid, was walking around. He crept down the hallway, thinking about what he would say to his dad. His father would most likely be furious at first, that he had entered his home without invitation, and would most likely try to press legal charges, but Adrien… wanted to tell him who he was. He knew it was risky. He knew it was the stupidest idea in the world because his father would be furious. Maybe he would refuse to let him leave after he found out. He would probably yell at him at least.

Adrien gulped and shook his head. He was done being scared of his father. And after all, his father had looked so concerned on the news earlier. Adrien was sure that if Gabriel Agreste had been reduced to that disheveled mess, then he would be happy to see him, right?

Despite his inward declaration to not be frightened, Adrien still felt his stomach tighten as he drew closer to the studio where his father worked, and he started wishing he had let Ladybug come with him. Adrien's knees felt weak, but this time there was a smile accompanying it. Ladybug… Marinette…. he had just kissed her. She had just kissed him….

He stopped in his walk down the hallway to hold himself and try to collect his feelings. He was still walking on air. He almost wanted to abandon what was sure to be an argument with his father and run back up to the roof and just be with her again. Be with her and feel the mutual admiration he had been craving for so long. Something she had craved for awhile too apparently. He made a small content sound, trying hard to not jump up and down with excitement as he grinned.

Later. He would do all that later. Right now he had important things to do. Adrien looked up at the cold dark doors before him and placed his gloved hand on the smooth wood.  
This was the studio he was never allowed to go into. He'd only seen it once, and that had been a very long time ago. He had been so little… and he just remembered it being so big and empty, except for tables covered in pencils and notes, sketches and books. Adrien held onto that image and pushed open the door, feeling his heart drum.

Sure enough, his father was there, sitting at his desk. And it really was big inside his studio. Adrien still felt overwhelmed by the size of it, even though he was older now, and he spared a moment to glance up at the dark distance between him and the ceiling. His father sat up, hearing the noise and turned immediately, his eyes landing on Adrien hard enough that the boy couldn't take another step.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice clearly in 'the calm before the storm' mode.

"I- I just needed to talk to you- I- I have something to-"

"No one is allowed in here and I don't want to be bothered." his father said coldly, taking steps towards him.

"Please- wait a minute- I have to tell you something important, please!" Adrien said, his voice turning a little weak as he willed himself to not take a step back. It was then that his father stopped, a foot or two from him, and eyed him with what looked like annoyance and confusion. Then it simply turned to confusion and his shoulders drooped.

Adrien was about to continue speaking, emboldened by the available silence, but it was his father who spoke first, shattering the silence and Adrien's whole being all at once.

"Adrien?"

They stood facing towards each other, silence becoming something with an actual weight that made Adrien feel like he was being crushed.

"D….Dad. You… recognize me?" Adrien finally breathed, his voice hoarse and raw.

"Of course I do, why wouldn't I recognize you? Adrien… I'm so glad you're home." his father's face broke into a sad smile, his brow furrowed in what looked like relief and concern all at once. Then he opened his arms and Adrien took a sharp breath in, his knees trembling. Then he bolted.

It was so strange but he didn't care. He didn't care at all.

His father was actually holding him. He was actually giving him a hug. Adrien put his head against his father's shoulder, trying to bite back tears because he was already felt like a child. But then again, he didn't really care.

"So you're Chat Noir, are you? How?" his father laughed lightly, and Adrien pulled away, still close as he looked into his father's eyes.

"My ring, it's magic." he said with a bright smile on his face, feeling excited to talk to his father like this. He pulled off his ring and felt himself transform back into his regular self, grinning up at his father again.

"This is Plagg, he's the spirit who gives me my powers…" Adrien continued to explain as he pointed to the narrow eyed Kwami.

"That's incredible…" his father said, sounding as if he was in awe, his eyes soft, still smiling. Adrien gulped, his heart thumping. He was actually impressing his father… he couldn't believe it. "All from this little ring? I wondered why you always wore it…" his father said, holding out his hand and looking at the ring as Adrien dropped it in his palm. His father looked amazed, turning it in his fingers, and Adrien absolutely beamed.

"Hey Adrien…" Plagg said quietly, tugging on the boy's sleeve.

"What?" he asked, turning his head towards the Kwami. Plagg looked uncharacteristically uneasy.

"I don't feel so good…" the Kwami said, and Adrien could hear the quiver of fear in his voice.

"…what's wrong?" Plagg was acting really strange. His father however smiled down at Adrien again, ruffling his hair and saying,

"I can't believe the hero of Paris is my son." Adrien swelled, feeling like a balloon.

"Adrien…" Plagg said again, sounding more and more worried. Adrien was about to get after him when he turned his head to see his father sliding his miraculous ring on his finger.

"Um…. it may be a little small on you…" Adrien laughed awkwardly, kind of uncomfortable without his ring on his own finger. His father looked up at him, his icy blue eyes staring at him without a change.

"I think it fits just fine." Adrien bit the inside of his cheek, still smiling but his eyebrows furrowing. He was going to say something more but his father pushed past him, walking towards the door.

"….Dad can I have it back? I need to keep it safe." Adrien coughed uncomfortably, and his father turned slowly to look at him, his hands on the door.

"Well that's one more flaw to add to your list, isn't it?" he said, and Adrien watched as a smile split across his father's face that made his stomach twist and his blood run cold.

"Dad…. please." he breathed, feeling his heart shatter in a way he had never felt before.

—

Marinette lost her balance for a moment as the whole mansion shook beneath her feet it seemed. It was just for a moment, but she'd also heard the shattering sound of a window breaking.

"Adrien!" she gasped, her heart pounding as she quickly lowered herself down from the roof with her yoyo, coming to stop right before what had once been a unmarred circular paned window. Now it was cracked and smoking, and….

 _Was that Adrien?!_

Marinette reached out towards the boy who was no longer wearing his suit, and had been the one to shatter the window, trying to sit up against it as he held the back of his blood stained head. She was just about to sweep in when she heard a laugh echo menacingly from the room.

"Now let's see… You've been spending the last while hiding with that pest Ladybug, haven't you? Is she nearby, that would make things terribly easy."

She grit her teeth. She knew what she wanted to do. Go in and save the day.

But at the same time, it was the obviously the biggest trap in the world, and if she went down, then who else could help Adrien or anyone else for that matter?

"But… I don't understand… you… YOU LIED THIS WHOLE TIME?!" Adrien screamed, sounding more broken than angry, and Marinette curled her fingers into her palms. The tone of his voice made her want to cry. And she wasn't even sure why.

"YOU- YOU SAID THOSE HORRIBLE THINGS TO ME- JUST TO GET ME ANGRY-"

"What? Like a spoiled brat? I tried to raise you differently Adrien, but I feel like that's all you ended up being. I give you all that you want and all you do to repay me is waste your time with fools who can't even form respectful sentences when speaking to superiors, and dance around like an idiot as some comic book hero when you could actually be using your powers intelligently."

Marinette sat above the shattered window, her heart stopping as she reached up to her forehead, pushing her bangs back as her eyes widened.

Maybe they shouldn't have gone to visit Mr. Agreste after all.

"INTELLIGENTLY?! I SAVE PEOPLE'S LIVES- FROM- FROM YOU! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!" Adrien yelled, on his feet now with his fists balled and ready. Marinette still couldn't see Mr. Agreste.

"Come on Adrien, you've obviously dealt too much today. If I didn't already know turning you into an Akuma was a bad idea you would be the perfect target. Hurt? Betrayal? I can practically smell it. Just come along quietly until your spotted little friend shows up."

She watched as a gloved hand rested on Adrien's wrist, who hadn't stopped staring right back at the man, tears in his eyes.

 _'_ _Don't touch him, you monster.'_ Marinette hissed in her mind, ready to swing in at any second. She could see Mr. Agreste… or rather Hawkmoth now. He was wearing the same outfit as before except for it was now darker, like Chat's color, and over his massive purple butterfly collar there was now glowing green splatters and spots on it, Adrien's ring glinting on his finger.

This was definitely bad.

"I would never…Put her in danger…" Adrien started, and Marinette held her breath, never before hearing such hatred in his voice. Adrien looked up at his masked father, his eyes dead, cold, and completely enraged as he hissed,

"That's right…. I almost forgot.. YOU TRIED TO KILL HER." He lunged at the tall man and she cringed holding herself back as Adrien took a nasty hit in response, being thrown and pinned to the floor forcefully afterwards.

"Tikki, what do I do?!" Marinette whispered, covering her face with her hands and trembling. A small voice reverberated inside her head then as Tikki spoke to her, sounding nervous.

"I'm not sure Marinette, but we'll figure it out! I don't think you should leave though. He doesn't know you're listening, maybe you should try to sneak in?"

Marinette bit her lip. The only way to take him was by surprise, but he was expecting her to come….

Marinette chewed her lip, and then glanced back at Adrien, who she'd been keeping an eye on this whole time. He was looking pretty bad. Apparently his father was done bothering with him and was now tying the half conscious Adrien to a chair.

 _Come on… think Marinette, think! This is just like when you need to use your Lucky Charm… just… think…_

It was hard to do that with this much panic in her heart. But she closed her eyes and focused. How could she surprise him while still being expected to come? Her brow furrowed, her lips pulling down into a frown as she reached up to her earrings.

That's all he wanted. And that's what she needed to keep safe.

Her mind flashed back to an adventure she and Adrien had had once. At the Louvre. With a certain Pharoah Akuma….

"Tikki, I've got an idea."

—

Adrien's head was pounding and he pulled at the ropes tying him down, but he felt too weak to actually make a difference at the moment. He was compromised, emotionally and physically. He almost wished his father would turn him into an akuma. At least he'd feel numb then.

He couldn't really do anything to help Marinette, he couldn't even warn her. And, as amazing as she was, he knew she needed his help as Chat Noir. Plagg had already explained that they balanced each other out. He knew she could pull anything off in the end but… he sure did feel like dead weight right now. He just hoped she didn't jump in to save the day or something-

A buzzing noise filled his ears suddenly and he recognized it as the door bell, his father looking up quickly as well, having just finished tightening the rope around Adrien. Then he hit a button on his wrist watch, speaking into it and saying,

"Natalie, who is that?"

"Just a girl from Adrien's class. Sir, did you feel the house shake earlier-"

"Don't be ridiculous Natalie. What's the girl's name?"

Adrien felt himself grow pale and he cursed her under his breath in frustration.

"It's Marinette Dupain-Cheng… Isn't that the girl who's missing as well, sir-"

"Send her up to my studio Natalie, I know why she's here."

He didn't wait for an answer and simply lowered his wrist from his mouth, looking right back into Adrien's unblinking green eyes.

"She came faster than I thought she would."

"I swear- if you hurt her- I- Please- you can't hurt her-" Adrien didn't know what to do, he was panicking, he was furious, and he just really didn't want Marinette to fall into the trap.

"I wouldn't hurt her Adrien, you seem to like her too much and it would be a waste of leverage against you to get rid of her. There's not much either of you can do after I take your Miraculous anyways." his father said, leaving Adrien glaring for all he was worth.


	6. Chapter 6

The girls walked right up the stairs, her face firm and confident as she walked towards Gabriel Agreste who stood tall and foreboding before her.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng… You're looking for Adrien, aren't you?" he asked, his face breaking into the smallest smile. She gulped, and then nodded, smiling nervously back.

"I know he came to talk to you… And that you know who I am… At least I'd assume you do if you know who he is." She said, twisting her hands together. He smiled even more.

"I was wondering where he was…" she finished quietly, and Gabriel turned, beginning to walk slowly.

"This way… He's in my studio." he told her, leading her back through the hallways of his mansion. She looked more and more nervous the closer they got until he stopped her, opening the door to his studio slowly and allowing her to go first before his arm.

"MARINETTE- RUN- NOW!"

—

Adrien screamed the words at her as her wide eyes landed on him and his father wrapped his arm around her neck swiftly, reaching up to her red earrings with his other hand. She cried out as well, and the door closed as she fumbled for the handle. Adrien watched helplessly as Marinette cried out in pain, fingers twisting roughly in her hair as the crimson polka dotted earrings were taken out one by one, her kicking and yelling for Tikki to transform her all too late and not enough.

"Marinette!" Tikki cried, trying to pull the earrings from Gabriel's hand as the girl twisted in his arms, trying to get free. He shoved her hard in the back with his palm and she fell forward, crying out as she fell onto Adrien and his chair, making them clatter to the ground.

Adrien hissed in pain, his shoulder having collided hard with the floor, but it wasn't compared to Marinette, who tried to sit up over him with trembling arms, her lip bleeding after hitting the corner of his chair.

Adrien turned his head to watch as his father clipped the two earrings to his suit cuffs, batting Tikki away like she was a pesky fly.

The earrings turned black, with red spots, and his outfit changed to a violet red color, the man slowly transforming into Hawkmoth as a black mask covered his eyes and Tikki cried out Marinette's name as she disappeared.

"Tikki!" the girl screamed, and she ran at his father, only to be thrown back by a burst of magic shot from his hand, and she hit the ground hard, her eyes closed and her chest rising up and down shakily.

"Goodbye Adrien, you two should be fine here until I come back… and who knows when that will be." Hawkmoth, Gabriel Agreste, _his father_ , said to him with a curt wave of his hand, and the door closed behind him. Adrien cursed, and struggled against the ropes, his new position on the floor making it easy to slide out from, even though it was still tight and he had rope burns decorating the sides of his arms.

As soon as he was free he crawled over to Marinette, sitting her up and trying to wake her, tears falling down his cheeks.

"Marinette! Marinette are you okay?…. Oh I'm sorry… We never should have come here… forgive me…" he choked, pulling her into him, and her brow furrowed a little.

"Adrien… Adrien is he gone?"

"Yes… he took the Miraculous… I… I'm so sorry." he said bitterly, holding her closer to him so his forehead was right against her own.

"Adrien… It's okay…" she sat up on her own and massaged her head.

"No! It's not okay! We have to do something- Paris- heck- not even Paris- the world is in danger and-" he stumbled over his words, and she began searching her pockets for something.

"Adrien, we are going to do something, just listen to me for a second-"

"I know we have to do something but _what can we do?_! Marinette- without Plagg I-" she grabbed his face between her hands and kissed him, then and he stopped, his eyes closing slowly as his shoulders relaxed. He could taste blood from her lip, and he gulped, knowing she wouldn't be in this mess if he hadn't just handed his Miraculous right over to his father…. She broke away, still holding onto his face and he blinked at her, tears in his green eyes.

She was blushing, but her eyes were calm and business like as she said without any kind of stutter,

"Adrien. It's going to be okay. I still have my Miraculous."

"What?" his eyes widened, and he gaped at her. She let go of his face and he watched as she pulled out two plain black earrings, clipping them into her ears.

"Tikki helped me create a Lucky Charm that will last longer than it would normally. She's using her magic to make him think he has it, but she actually hasn't bonded with him at all. As soon as Plagg is worn out he'll need to recharge the same as Tikki. Then she'll be at full energy and leave him to come back here." Marinette said, smiling at Adrien who was staring at her with a tense but slowly relieved face. Then a smile broke across his face and he chuckled a little, and it turned into a laugh, his shoulder shaking a little as he fell onto his back on the floor.

"What?" she asked him, her voice turning to a curious laugh as well.

"Ha… I.. I was just imagining Plagg whining at my father for cheese… I hope he gives him a headache." Adrien laughed, grinning ear to ear now and Marinette closed her eyes, trying to picture that as well.

"Oh my goodness… I'm sorry I won't get to be there." she laughed, laying back on the floor beside him as they laughed, their sore chests aching. It faded away and they sat in the silence together, both of them unable to do anything but wait as Paris was surely feeling a cold chill of empty hearts and broken feelings settle over them all.

"I was really worried Marinette." Adrien said after a moment and she turned her head upwards to look at him.

"I was worried about you. I heard you yelling at him… and I saw him hurting you… I'm sorry Adrien." she said quietly, turning to her side to find one of his hands, gripping it gently.

He pursed his lips, closing his eyes and reliving the words his father had called him… the fake ones and the real ones, the insults and the lies. He felt sick to his stomach, and his heart was so low he could hardly bring himself to open his eyes to look at her, knowing he'd only begin to cry.

"Are you going to be alright?" she asked, scooting up till he felt her face near his.

"I don't know… I'm sure I will… but… maybe not right now." he said in a broken voice and she reached up, brushing the hair next to his face with her fingers, pulling it from his face with her finger tips and bringing an almost purr like sound from his throat.

She petted him more, treating him like the cat he felt like at the moment and he pushed his head further into her hand, his eyes still closed. She found his ears and rubbed them, making him want to melt into a puddle as he sighed.

"Does that feel better?" she asked, and he nodded a little, his breathing slowing down as his thoughts drifted away from his father and more to her.

"A little bit." he mumbled, and she continued to stroke his head. Then he felt her cup his face again and she kissed him for the third time that night, making his heart shudder. She pulled away and a smile broke across his face.

"Okay… that might have helped even more."

—-

Tikki felt exhausted, but she waited until the ring on Hawkmoth's ring beeped and then she mimicked the sound as well, making the spots on the earring disappear.

"What's this nonsense?" he said in annoyance as she reappeared from where she'd been hiding to catch an almost unconscious Plagg who was moaning.

"I don't know how you've broken your Kwami- but we can't keep our magic up non stop!" Tikki snapped at him, beyond furious with the man who was transforming back into his old self.

They were standing at the top of Notre Dame, watching a cold rain descend on the city of Paris, people on the street hurrying inside even though the rain was not heavy at all. There was just a feeling of danger in the air, a sick dark feeling that sat in everyone's hearts. He'd been using his magic to create this atmosphere. And it was starting to affect even Tikki herself. She wished she knew what the purpose behind it was, but she could not draw anything from the cold hearted man, who only softly glared at the two Kwami's sinking to the ground.

"Plagg… Plagg wake up please." she coaxed her companion, who groaned a little, shaking his head. He cracked his green eyes open at her and then stuck out his tongue. Then he whispered to her quietly,

"What's going on Tikki… you weren't trapped in there with me… he doesn't have the Ladybug Miraculous does he?" She covered his mouth with her small red arm, shushing him as she glanced up to the man who looked as though he couldn't care a bit what they were saying.

Then she shook her head and said softly,

"It was the only thing we could do to get him away from Adrien. As soon as we've recharged I'm going to leave to go back to Marinette. Then we'll work our way from there, he'll be surprised so that should give us an advantage."

Plagg nodded, and then gave a deep sigh.

"Tikki that Kwami he has is very sick. It didn't talk to me at all. I could feel its presence there but it's almost like it's dead. He took a Miraculous from someone and made it work for him and it's hurt. It's starting to hurt me too…" Tikki frowned, her blue eyes filled with concern as she gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Hang in there Plagg. I'll get you back to Adrien as quickly as I can." she breathed, and he sighed. Then he pulled his head back and yelled loudly,

"I'M HUNGRY- I NEED CHEESE."

"What?"

"YOU HEARD ME YOU BIG JERK- CHEESE- I NEED IT RIGHT NOW- CAMEMBERT IF YOU DON'T MIND!"

"If you think I'm going to-"

"CAAAAMEEEMBEEEEEERT…." Plagg moaned loudly, turning into a pathetic black lump on the ground and Tikki tried her best to hold back a giggle.

"I refuse to-"

It was then that Gabriel Agreste revealed his hidden colorful vocabulary as Plagg shot up to his face, whining and pulling on his hair as he threw a tantrum.

Tikki joined in, begging him for cookies as they flew around his face, making him dizzy and increasingly outraged.

 _I'll be there soon Marinette!_

She smirked at the man who was finally showing signs of giving in, thinking about how wonderful it would feel to get back at him for all the trouble he'd given them.

—–

Adrien was kissing her when she heard Tikki's voice. She hadn't picked up on it first, she was currently entranced, her arms wrapped tight around his neck as they'd melted into one, completely inseparable.

"Marinette!" Tikki's scolding voice broke through to her and she gasped, breaking away from him to look over at her little red friend.

"Oh! Tikki!"

"Marinette have you two been coming up with a plan at all or have you just been kissing this whole time?!" Tikki said, frowning at the girl as Adrien nearly shoved her away from him with a bright red face.

"S-Sorry!" he cried, looking as if he wanted to go hide from the Kwami's gaze.

"W-We did come up with a plan- we did!" Marinette spluttered, trying to comb her hair straight as Tikki rolled her eyes.

They really had been. They'd talked about a lot of things while they'd waited for Tikki to show up. They'd strategized as much as they could, deciding to approach Hawkmoth from behind so she could grab Chat Noir's ring and give it back to Adrien, and then they'd take him down once and for all. They'd both agreed that it was the butterfly brooch he wore on his collar that held his Miraculous, and all they had to do was get it away from him.

They weren't sure what was evil though. The Miraculous, or his father.

It was then that they'd gotten off topic, and Marinette had listened to Adrien tell her his feelings on the situation, about his father and his personality. It had all gone downhill since his mother had disappeared. He'd thought it was simply that fact alone that had turned his father cold, but with the knowledge of him being Hawkmoth, there seemed to be more.

Adrien was hurt, and he felt sick for sure, but he still felt love for his father. It was impossible to dismiss every loving tussle of his hair he'd received as a child, and he could still remember the warm laugh that used to fill their home.

It wasn't something he could ever forget.

Marinette had let him rest against her shoulder as he told her this, and she continued to comfort him as best as she could, reassuring him that he could make it through the trial at hand.

She knew Chat Noir, and she knew Adrien. And they'd finally come together, as one in her mind, though she still felt a little more light headed looking at him without his mask on rather than with it.

He was her best friend, someone who had been there to take the hit, to back her up, and to make her feel confident. He'd only had similar things to say to her. She made him feel safe, she made him feel free, she made him feel loved. He loved her too. She loved him. He'd kissed her again, and she'd kissed him back.

And she'd kind of lost track of the time from that point on…

"How was convincing my father to let you recharge?" Adrien asked her as Marinette stood up, brushing dust from her pant legs. Tikki laughed and said, with her hands on her hips,

"Ha! He'll need a comb to fix the mess Plagg made of his hair. Oh, by the way," she flew down to Adrien's face, resting the tip of her small hand on his nose and saying,

"Plagg is tired, and hurting, but he's okay. And he misses you." Adrien sighed, and Marinette could tell he cared as deeply for his Kwami as she did for her's.

"Thanks Tikki." he said, rubbing her head softly as she smiled.

"Alright then. Let's get going." Marinette said, breathing deeply as she prepared herself for the fight that was coming.

—

Adrien watched as she transformed before him, turning into the first person he had ever loved before him in glittering light. Of course he loved her even more now. Now that he knew who she was under that mask. But still, seeing her with her suit on filled him with a deep feeling of comfort, and hope. The gloom outside had started to leak in a little, and his heart had begun to sink. But now that Ladybug, Marinette, was standing before him ready to fight, he felt like things could definitely become better.

"Alright Adrien, are you coming?" she said, holding out her hand and making his heart jump. He took it, feeling the smooth texture of her glove on his skin for the first time, and he wrapped his fingers around it.

"Of course…. I won't be much help to you as Adrien though…" he sighed, looking down at the ground.

"Oh don't say that…" she said softly, pulling his hand closer to her chest with a smile. "You're still my Chat Noir. You just need to be careful, without the suit you could get hurt."

"Yeah… thanks My Lady." he said with a little smile and she wrapped him into a side hug, pulling him close as she took out her yoyo.

"Hang on kitty." she then said, and he grinned, ready to hold on.

They had broken the window more so they could both get through it, and as soon as they were able to fit through it, she threw her Yoyo to the building across the street, swinging across to safety. Adrien held onto her for dear life, not afraid of falling, even though he was a little nervous without his suit on, but just because he never wanted to let go. It was strange, holding onto this girl who was smaller than he was, and having her carry him through the air like it was nothing.

She was incredible.

Adrien watched her, keeping his eyes on the calculated blue ones that were looking at the path ahead of her, zipping through the air, landing on buildings, and then moving to the next. It was almost surreal for him to watch it, and to be a part of it.

He still wished he could be working beside her though. Then he'd feel a little more useful. He also was worried about Plagg. The little lazy Kwami was one of his closest friends, and he wanted him back immediately.

"I see him." Ladybug breathed beside him, and he looked where she was looking. There was a crowd gathering, all in the same spot before Notre Dame, filling the square as Hawkmoth stood before them among the Gargoyles, looking down at them all.

"What is he doing…" she said, her eyes narrowed, and Adrien shrugged.

"I don't know… whatever it is he sure has those people _afuraid_." he said.

She stopped walking, about to throw her yoyo again, and turned her head to look at him, her face looking like death.

"Adrien."

"Yes?"

"There was literally… no need for that. That wasn't funny. At all."

"I make puns when I'm nervous."

"No."

He smiled and gave her a kiss, pulling back with a smile. She narrowed her eyes, but smirked back at him. He felt like his heart was going to burst.

"Alright, enough chit- _chat_ , we've gotta villain to take down."

"WHY DO YOU GET TO MAKE PUNS?"

"BECAUSE I KNOW WHEN THEY'LL BE FUNNY!"


	7. Chapter 7

Adrien hid behind the side of Notre Dame, steadying his breathing as he watched Marinette move forward, creeping behind his father who looked very invested in the crowd beneath him. Then she drew back her hand, her yoyo in her grasp until it shot from her hand with a snap and wrapped itself around the tall man. He let out a quickly stopped shout of surprise before he turned his head, absolute fury in his eyes as he looked back at the two of them.

His eyes shot up and down Ladybug, standing confidently before him.

"How?!" he snarled, and she smirked at him, tightening her grip on her yoyo.

"Did you really think it would be that easy to take my Miraculous from me?" she laughed, and he looked as though he wanted to strangle her.

"It doesn't matter- I'm strong enough to fight you for it now." he hissed, his eyes growing cold as he suddenly erupted into black and purple crackling energy, green light from Chat's miraculous shooting out in sparks, and her yoyo string snapped.

"Marinette!" Adrien cried in worry, emerging quickly to help her up as she had fallen down from the sudden release of tension.

"It's fine! It can regenerate!" Ladybug said quickly, snatching up the disk that had bounced back to her feet. Then they jumped to the side as a ball of crackling energy, glowing faintly green nearly hit them and left the ground black and cracked where they'd been standing.

"Do you really want to kill me dad?!" Adrien yelled, angry more than anything else as they dodged another attack.

"If you insist to get in my way then that may have to be what happens!" the man yelled back, and Marinette screeched a little as she almost got hit again.

"STOP IT!" Adrien yelled, pouncing, even though he didn't have a suit on as he tackled his father, who tried to shake him off with a frustrated expression.

"Adrien- I'd like to keep you alive if I can- stop acting like a fool! You're not Chat Noir anymore, _you can't help her!_ "

With this annoyed yell, a bolt of energy shot from his father's gloved hand and this time it was close enough to cause damage. Adrien's eyes shot wide open as he jerked around at Marinette's scream, and he saw the edge of Notre Dame crumbling at her feet as she fell, her yoyo still broken and unable to help her as she reached out for anything- _reached out for him_.

"MARINETTE!" he screamed, about to jump forward to grab onto her hand but his father grabbed him first, yanking him back to land hard on the ground.

He watched as her bright red fingers grabbed onto the ledge where the building had crumbled, her screams still echoing around them as she desperately tried to palm the building.

She was strong. He knew she could pull herself up.

He heard his father mutter something beneath his breath however and he breathed in sharply, his eyes shooting upwards as the hand right above his face erupted into the black burning magic that was Catacylsm. Adrien tensed, his heart pounding as he remembered every single thing he had ever touched with that destructive power and how it had shriveled and cracked beneath his fingertips…. then he imagined it happening to his face. He could nearly feel the dark chaotic magic above him, and he was at that moment, genuinely scared for his life.

He watched, his eyes wide and alert, as his father carefully moved his free hand over the top of the one wielding cataclysm, his palm glowing purple and aimed directly at Marinette who had just managed to palm the ledge and begin to pull herself up.

Adrien felt everything slow down in his mind as he rushed to understand the situation. His father was keeping him down, not planning to kill him, but keeping him out of the way so he could get rid of Ladybug.

He was going to kill Marinette. He was going to hit the already crumbling wall that she had just barely gotten a good hold of and she was going to fall without the help of a yoyo or a cat. And Adrien was going to have to watch it.

His father's eyes were deadly and they weren't looking at Adrien. The boy looked over to Marinette for a split second, her blue eyes finally emerging as she hooked an elbow over the ledge of the building.

A sudden stroke of inspiration or madness hit him then, and Adrien knew it was his only option, and he also knew it would at least achieve one of the two goals in his mind. She stared at him for a millisecond and her eyes filled with a sudden horror, obviously reading what was in his eyes.

Then with as much force as he could muster as he lay trapped against the ground, Adrien shot his hands forward, closing around the burning black hand that was suspended around his face as his fingers closed around his ring desperately, continuing to push forward till his father's arm hit the one above it, knocking the stream of purple magic into the air.

He could hear her screaming his name, but he knew the magic had missed her, so he just smiled.

 _Désolé, My Lady._


	8. Chapter 8

Adrien felt like his arm was on fire, but he twisted up until he had thrown his father off and his ring was tight against his own palm. He paused for half of a second, breathing hard and his heart beating so fast he couldn't hear anything at all. He looked down at his hands that were trembling. They looked like they were cracking…. but… the cracks were glowing with a fluorescent green color and they were beginning to fade now as a triumphant smirk spread across his face.

"Way to go Adrien! I knew you could figure it out!" came Plagg's enthusiastic yell as he crashed into Adrien's head, burying himself in the boy's hair.

"What- but- HOW?!" his father yelled, and Adrien was surprised to see how the man's brow was covered in sweat and he was shaking.

Had he been worried about Adrien getting hit?

Adrien didn't have the time or attitude to give his father a second chance however, and he slid his ring back onto his fingers, transforming while he snapped,

"I was the one chosen to be Chat Noir- not you! Do you really think my own powers can be used against me?!"

Then he sprinted to where Marinette was staring at him, holding onto the building for dear life but shaking like a leaf, her blue eyes were wide and terrified. He pulled her up and she instantly buried herself into him, pressing her face into the space between his collar and chin.

"Come on Marinette… I'm alright… We have things to do." he said, giving her head a smooth stroke with his hand and she pulled away, her eyes still wide.

"Stupid cat."

He smiled, and gave her a kiss on the forehead, reaching behind him to pull out his staff, letting it extend.

"Alright, now… What should we do about… him." he said, his voice catching as he turned to face his father, anger pulsing through him more than he had ever felt before.

"Not let you near him, that's what." she murmured, eyeing him warily. His father had stood up, back to his regular 'Hawkmoth-ish' state, and he only smiled at them.

"Feel free to waste your time with me, you know I don't have any combative powers without your miraculous charms."

"Don't act so smug and tell us what's going on- we're not idiots." Marinette said testily, pulling on her yoyo to see that it had regenerated it's string. "What are you doing to those people?" she finished, pointing to the crowd of solemn parisians standing before them at Notre Dame. Adrien glanced down at them. Jeez they looked like a depressed bunch of zombies…

"They're just a little upset is all. Didn't you feel the gloom as well?" he asked, smirking at them and making Marinette's eyes narrow.

She had felt it. The sick dark feeling weighing on her chest earlier had been driving her nearly mad. But she had been with Adrien… and they'd been safe… Together their optimism and her miraculous had lightened her heart enough to not let the darkness get to her.

They'd also been kissing, and to be honest, that probably helped too, but there was no way she would admit that.

"That was from you?" Adrien asked, looking even more angry.

"Of course. And while you two were dancing around like fools, I- even without Ladybug's miraculous- made incredible progress… infact it still should work without me having your miraculous at all. I was able to get so far…"

Adrien could feel Marinette tense with her eyes narrowing, probably about to complain about how they were just talking, but then there was this familiar static sound he hadn't heard in a long time. It happened right behind them and they both turned, their eyes widening.

"Alya?!" Marinette cried, shocked as she saw her friend standing there. Alya looked dazed for a second but then her mouth turned into a smirk and she hissed,

"Don't you mean 'Lady Wifi'?" Adrien took a step backwards, only to find that he had just walked straight into Nino.

"Don't say it. Bubbler?" he asked weakly, and Nino only grinned.

"COME ON CHAT!" she cried, grabbing onto his wrist and pulling him out of the way of an attack.

They talked as they ran.

"Why do they look the same?! They're only acting like their Akumatized selves!" he cried as they both breathed heavily, jumping over rooftops as they dodged multiple akuma attacks, all familiar and all mounting.

"I think it's because he didn't have my Miraculous! His spell is half baked, but still effective! That could also mean they aren't protected by a suit, we'll have to be gentle!" Marinette threw the idea into the air as she pulled him down to avoid a black rose tipped arrow. _That's the last thing I need…_ She thought, remembering her black lipped evil kitty. Although kissing him now would probably feel like less of a chore…

Oh gosh she had kissed Adrien Agreste before- _she had chased him around Paris trying to kiss him….._

Marinette yelped as she ran into an invisible wall created by a stern faced Mylene's father. _Oh no, not the mime…. he'd been so hard to beat…_

But Adrien just pulled her the other way.

They ran and dodged together, even more in sync than before as they both threw back ideas on how to beat Hawkmoth.

At the moment… they had no idea.

Adrien was about to ask her if trapping them all into a building would help when he felt an icy cold wind blast into his side, making him fly towards Marinette and knocking her out of the sky. They cried out in alarm as they fell from the safety of roof tops, and Aurora's Stormy Weather laugh echoed around them, Marinette grasping for her yoyo.

She was about to throw it when a long silver rope spun around the two super heros and pulled them together back to back tightly, reeling them up through the air like fish.

Soon they were deposited on the ground before Hawkmoth, Nathanäel by his side and sketching out the rope with his tablet.

"Got any Catacylsm left?" Marinette asked Adrien, her voice strained.

"Plagg is about to let go of my transformation any minute now, he's beyond exhausted." Adrien replied, shaking his head.

She bit her lip.

"I guess it's my turn." She said, and looked up when Hawkmoth began laughing.

"I'd like to see whatever little lucky charm you have that's going to fix all of this. Don't forget that I made these akumas with two Miraculous', and you only have the power of one."

That didn't deter Marinette from muttering, "Lucky Charm" under her breath, and closing her eyes as a flash of light enveloped her hand, until it faded away like a dying firework.

"A piece of paper. That's nice." Hawkmoth laughed even harder, and Marinette stared down at her palm. It was a photo of some lady she'd never seen before in her life. But her face did seem a little familiar somehow.

"Please don't tell me you really just have a piece of paper…" Adrien moaned quietly, sounding as scared as she felt as well.

"I… I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this…" she whispered, her heart sinking. "Tikki… help me… I don't know…"

Tikki's small voice filled her mind then.

 _"Why don't you ask your real partner? I just give you powers."_

Marinette gulped.

—

Adrien was trying to pull against the silvery rope holding them together, so he could wiggle out or something, but it wasn't budging. He just wished his father would shut up already.

He hadn't stopped laughing when Marinette had gotten her Lucky Charm.

"Adrien…" her voice was shaky and he stopped moving, turning his head so that he could look over his shoulder.

"What is it?" he said, trying to stay calm, for her at least.

"I don't know what to do with this… but maybe you do, I mean, I've never tried to ask you for help with a Lucky Charm before…" she finished, and he craned his neck to see better, trying to get a better look-

Adrien froze.

His eyes widened.

Marinette must have felt it, because she moved her head as well to look at him.

"What is it?"

 _"That's my mom."_ Adrien breathed, and Marinette let out a little exclamation that she immediately tried to hold back.

Why in the world would Marinette have a Lucky Charm of his mother? He stared at the picture, a lump forming in his throat that he had to force back down. Marinette, her eyes still wide, handed the photo to his reaching fingers so he could see it better.

She looked the same as when he'd last seen her, before she'd disappeared without a trace of where she was going or why she wasn't coming back. Not even a goodbye. He closed his eyes.

Her smile was bright, her green eyes shining, her soft hair pulled to the side, and Adrien remembered leaning against her shoulder as he gave her a hug and her brooch pricking into the side of his cheek…

Then his eyes snapped open again.

"Alright, I'm done humouring you, I'll be taking your Miraculous' now…" his father sighed, bending down till he was at their level, but Adrien recoiled, pulling Marinette and him out of reach as they rolled backwards (causing her to yelp a little).

"THAT'S MOM'S BROOCH." he then yelled, and his father stopped in his tracks.

There was a silence that was so heavy Adrien was sure it was a wonder they weren't being crushed by it.

"What did you say?" his father hissed, and Adrien gulped. He twisted his arm until it was completely free between the ropes, and he pointed towards his father's neck where a butterfly shaped brooch sat, his mother's photo still stuck between his finger and thumb.

"THAT'S MOM'S."

"….Of course this isn't her's, your mother had a flower brooch, she'd had it for years-"

"I CAN SEE THE PETALS STACKED ONTOP OF EACHOTHER- IT CHANGES INTO A BUTTERFLY! YOU STOLE THAT FROM HER- MOM HAD A MIRACULOUS AND YOU STOLE IT FROM HER-"

"I DIDN'T STEAL ANYTHING!" his father screamed at him, and Adrien instinctively shrunk, his shoulders hunching as he turned his face from him.

He could feel Marinette trembling behind him as well, speechless as he felt inside, and they both waited for his father to explain.

The man was breathing heavily, and now as Adrien looked up, he was pulling on his pale hair, another hand closing around the brooch at his throat.

It was then that Plagg gave up on holding Chat Noir any longer and with a flash, Adrien Agreste was sitting on the ground, still staring at his father.

Luckily all of the Akumatized people around them looked like zombies and seemed incapable of remembering anything.

But the fact still remained that they were short one super hero.

Marinette heard her earrings beep.

She better wrap this up soon.

"Your mother…. she gave this to me… She wanted me to…" his father mumbled, his fingers still touching the brooch as he stared off in the distance at nothing in particular.

A purple flicker of a butterfly appeared around the man's eyes and he seemed to grit his teeth, almost in pain.

"Adrien, when someone who wasn't chosen to use a Miraculous uses it anyways, it corrupts both of them. It was starting to hurt me too." Plagg said softly, shivering in Adrien's hair.

"So… the Miraculous is acting like an akuma?" Marinette's voice whispered, and Adrien gulped. His father may not be all that evil then.

"N-No! WE'RE DONE TALKING ABOUT THIS!" Gabriel yelled angrily, his eyes positively glowing an unearthly violet color. "IT'S TIME FOR ME TO HAVE YOUR MIRACULOUSES AND THEN-"

"Yeah?! And then what?! What's going to happen when you get all three of them, huh?!" Adrien yelled, and Marinette joined in as well,

"Please! Explain what more you could want or gain with them!"

"I…" the man looked taken aback. "I… I'll get her back…. y-yes that's-"

"Why would she have given you her Miraculous if- Dad that doesn't even make sense! You don't even know what you'll do with them!" Adrien said, and Marinette managed to free one of her arms from the ropes, sticking it out between the coils.

"QUIET! I'M FINISHING THIS RIGHT NOW!" Gabriel yelled and he bent down onto his knees beside Marinette, one hand grabbing her free wrist and the other touching her earrings.

"Dad! We can figure this out but you need to give us the Miraculous first! Please! You're still good!" Adrien yelled, turning his head as far as he could as Marinette stared wide eyed at the man.

His face was stern, he hadn't moved his fingertips from her earrings but he wasn't trying to take them out. Then his eyes closed tight like he had a bad headache and his other hand dropped her wrist, moving up to massage his temple.

Marinette reached her hand up. Her fingers hooked around his brooch and his eyes opened.

He stared at her for a moment, until she said very quietly,

"I can fix things."

Adrien didn't say anything. He didn't even breath.

Gabriel dropped his fingers from her earrings at the same moment that Marinette unclipped the brooch from his suit.

It shattered at her fingertips.

All at once the silver rope around them disappeared and their akumatized friends slumped to the ground of the rooftop, unconscious with dark circles under their eyes. Butterflies rose from them and the crowd below, filling the air like a big black storm of slowly rolling waves. One large butterfly escaped from the shattered brooch and Marinette readied her yoyo.

"Have fun catching all of those butterflies…" Adrien muttered behind her, sounding a little shell shocked, but not enough to give up an opportunity for a joke.

Marinette really hoped she didn't have to catch them all as she snapped her yoyo at the largest butterfly, letting it get eaten up into the spotted disc until it was spat out again. The moment the white butterfly escaped the other ones had faded into white, flying away until they seemed to melt into the clouds.

She reached out a hand to Adrien, who blinked at her for a moment before he looked down at the Lucky Charm in his palm. He stared at his mother for a second more, a thousand feelings racing through his mind before he handed the photo back to Marinette who took it with as much reverence as she could.

She said her magic spell and let the photo fall from her fingers off of the side of Notre Dame, and Adrien came to stand by her side as they watched it dissolve into magic which spun around in the air; putting all of their friends back safe on the ground and fixing the damage of their fight with Hawkmoth.

Then Tikki let go of the transformation and Marinette caught the kwami in her hand, giving her a smile and letting her sit atop her head. Then she grabbed Adrien's hand with her own and smiled at him sympathetically, receiving a small but genuine one in return.

"Gabriel, sit up sweetie… Your suit is a mess…" came a light laugh behind them then, and Adrien spun around so fast he nearly knocked Marinette off of Notre Dame for the second time that day.

"MOM?!"


	9. Chapter 9

A few notes before we start:

fReAKiNG fINaLLy.

It's done.  
Okay, keep in mind that nothing you are about to read is canon, I haven't seen the Origin episodes yet, so it takes place in an entirely different universe, hahahaa (like all fanfictions do….). I promise I have no clue what Adrien's mother is actually named. XD

I'm so honored to have all of the followers of this story that I do! 3 You make me blush. :3

Thank you a billion times over for dreamwips (tumblr) who beta-readed for me on some chapters and gave me some feedback - AND HELPED ME FINISH THIS LAST CHAPTER- HONESTLY IT WAS SO HARD.

And thank you chapelseed (tumblr) for giving me the idea on what to name the Butterfly Kwami. :)

The large group of Parisians woke up from the ground before Notre Dame disoriented and confused, but feeling considerably lighter in their hearts compared to how they'd felt only a few minutes earlier. But what they woke up to see was something no one had expected.

A new family of four, hugging each other tightly atop Notre Dame, laughing with tears in their eyes and over their cheeks.

Mrs. Agreste was back, and so were the two missing teenagers of Paris. And to top it all off, Mr. Agreste was smiling again.

The explanation was strange but no one would doubt the word of the three 'victims'. (though there was one blogger who was suspicious but chose to keep her opinions to herself) The being known as Hawkmoth who had turned countless Parisians into villains to fight for him had been defeated and dissolved away with his magic. Ladybug and Chat Noir had finally prevailed against him permanently, and had rescued the two teenagers and Mrs. Agreste who had been captured by the being years ago. The details were fuzzy as to why, something about giving him energy, but no one wanted to press Mrs. Agreste too much anyways, as she'd obviously been through a lot, despite her foggy memory of the events.

The Dupain-Chengs were overjoyed to have their daughter returned, and were quite happy to pull Adrien into their group hug as well, just as relieved that he was safe as well. Their friends bombarded them with hugs and tears, and Adrien could honestly say that he'd never felt so loved in his entire life. To the outside world it seemed the danger had passed and everything had returned to a quieter but happier state. And it was. But at the same time, it was a whole new story to the four humans who knew more than the rest.

"Alright. Let's start by an introduction!" Collette Agreste said with a smile as she sat in the chair before Adrien and Marinette, Gabriel beside her.

He still was stern, and it was rare to see him laugh, but there was something different about him now. His smiles were genuine, his quiet voice was warmer now, and it was apparent that he felt awful about what had happened.

"This is my Kwami, Biaant. She's still weak but she's alive..." Collette said softly, and the two teenagers bent over her palm to look at the little purple kwami with butterfly wings, curled up and sleeping.

"I haven't seen her in years." Plagg sighed as he and Tikki hovered near their heads, looking at the little butterfly Kwami in interest.

"No one has seen either of us for a long time..." Mrs. Agreste said, smiling kindly to Adrien who looked nervous. This was the first time since everything had calmed down and the press had left them alone that they'd been able to sit and talk together. It had only been two days, but it was torture for the teenagers who wanted to know what exactly was going on.

"So are you a superhero like us?" Adrien asked, and Collette tucked her Kwami safely back into the folds of her scarf.

"Yes but... not exactly like you. I was working alone, and I didn't have to do nearly as dangerous of missions as you do..." she sounded a little worried at this, and Marinette shrugged.

"What were you fighting if there wasn't any Akumas to fight?" Adrien asked, and Tikki laughed lightly,

"There were still Akumas to fight! But... not fight exactly... They happen naturally!"

"What?" Marinette narrowed her eyes.

"You mean we're not released from hero duty? Good, I would have missed that." Adrien sighed in relief and Marinette elbowed him.

"You shouldn't _want_ akumas to happen!"

"Yeah, but it's the only time I got to see you..."

"Well you're going to get to see me all the time now." she laughed, pushing his shoulder a little bit and he shrugged.  
"It's fun fighting with you too though! We're a good team."

"Thanks Adrien, I think so too..." she responded shyly, smiling as her cheeks turned pink.

"Okay- cheese later- _ha cheese_ \- anyways, Akumas do happen naturally, it's them turning into super villains and trying to steal the miraculouses that's unnatural." Plagg said, coming between Adrien and Marinette who were giving each other 'love stupid' eyes again.

Gabriel fidgeted in his seat in uncomfortable way and Collete's hand rested on his knee.

"You know when you get angry or upset? That's an Akuma inside of you. They're naturally a part of you, don't worry!" Collette added the last part when she saw the alarmed look on the teenager's faces. "It's only dangerous when you start to let the Akuma control you, when you let your emotions get out of hand."

"You mean they're not butterflies- ugh- I don't like the idea of one growing inside of me..." Marinette groaned, rubbing her heart.

"I know- it's a little strange. But consider this, those feelings, the Akuma's, they are important for us to survive! Self preservation, adrenaline that keeps us moving forward, outrage when it's needed to fix wrongs... if we didn't have those feelings, nothing important or good could happen to us! It's not some foreign being inside of you, it is literally part of who you are! It's not a physical thing... it's... an emotional thing. We call it an 'Akuma' like it's an object, but it's really just a kind of magic that holds a person's personality together. It's strange to call it magic... when it's just human nature."

"So explain what happens when they- the feelings- get out of hand- like- really out of hand where Miraculous holders have to step in." Adrien asked, and Marinette nodded.

"That's when people start doing bad things! Their emotions completely take over and crimes start to happen!" Tikki said, and Plagg smiled.

"Chat Noir and Ladybug are only needed once in awhile... when the Akumas are so strong that the magic starts to go funny. Like in these past years! This whole Hawkmoth fiasco was the result of a strong Akuma and the unfortunate possession of a miraculous!" the small black Kwami said, and Adrien tried not to glance at his father who still hadn't said anything.

"My job, as a Miraculous Holder, was to track down those who were feeling those uncommonly strong feelings of negativity, my Kwami can sense them. Then, Biaant and I transform together and I enter a person's mind and talk them through it! Hawkmoth had a similar power, though he could only possess a person's mind mentally, while still holding a physical form." Collette said, and Adrien's eyes widened.

"Y-You mean you disappear completely when you go into someone's mind?!"

She nodded with a smile.

"Is that why you were gone?" Marinette asked softly, and the tired looking woman nodded again.

"Do you want to tell them what happened, Mon coeur?" she asked, who turned her head to face Gabriel. The man swallowed hard. He shifted in his chair uncomfortably and then folded his arms and said quietly,

"If you'd like me to."

"I think you should be able to say something. I'd hate to tell a story for you when you're sitting right there." Collette said, moving her hand over his so that she could thumb over it softly.

"Alright then." he said professionally, but they could all tell he was nervous. "It was that night she disappeared, Adrien. You'd gone to bed early, and we were talking about putting you into the public school. We were both unsure, but Collette seemed much more agitated than I did..." he glanced over at his son, who made a face and his mother laughed.

"Adrien, I'm sorry, but with all the people I've had to mentally coax from committing crimes, it was natural for me to be nervous about letting you go outside, you'll have to forgive me, I know you're more than capable now." He shrugged and his father then continued on.

"You have to know that your mother hadn't told me she had a Miraculous, or anything like that. So after we'd argued about schooling, and then she suddenly told me she had to leave, I was nervous. She'd been so worked up over it and then she had to leave immediately? I am ashamed to say I was untrusting enough to follow her out of the mansion. I hadn't known she was leaving to go stop someone from committing murder-"

"W-Woah wait- I'm sorry, but I need to understand this!" Marinette interrupted, looking panicked. "If you can talk someone down from murder, and I mean, if Miraculous holders can prevent murder... than why does it still happen?"

Tikki, Plagg, and Collette all sighed in an almost depressed way. Then Tikki floated over to Marinette and put a hand on her cheek saying,

"I know it's hard to hear, but the only Akuma's we fight are ones that are emotions that grow out of control quickly. They're fueled by sudden bursts of anger or sadness... but the ones that develop over time is something we have no control over. That isn't an out of control Akuma. That's a human who has talked themselves into committing a crime. Those people have chosen to become that. And what they do is purely up to them and, something fate does not want us to change. That being said, there are also out of control Akumas that we aren't notified about and cannot stop because we're not meant to stop it. Bad things happen in life, it's natural and a critical part of everyone's life. We can't fix everything and that's okay." the little Kwami tried hard to explain to the girl who looked a little upset but still nodded, even if a little uncertain.

"Yeah- I mean, Adrien has an Akuma growing unnaturally inside of him, but I couldn't do anything about it." Plagg said, and immediately looked away nervously and coughed as if he hadn't said anything.

"What?!" Adrien cried, his eyes wide and panicked, and Plagg patted him on the nose saying,

"Don't stress Adrien, I've been keeping tabs on you, you're gonna be fine! Uh- Can- can we go back to the story?"

The teenager gave Plagg a very strong, "we are DEFINITELY going to talk about this later" face, and then turned back to look at his father, considerably more uncomfortable than he had been a few seconds ago.

"Well as I was saying... I didn't know my wife was going to talk someone out of murder. So when I arrived unexpectedly to see her transform and about to enter into this crazed man's mind... I..." Gabriel looked hopelessly at his wife, begging her to pick up the story. She squeezed his hand carefully and continued on for him.

"I had to explain to him what was going on. I tried to explain to him that I was one of the Miraculous holders, the heroes that protect this world. It's not a new subject, but it's a mysterious one. I tried to tell him I was going to 'fix the man' and 'make him better', but when I was trying to explain it to him..." she choked, and Gabriel shut his eyes tight, his lips pursed so that it looked like he refused to finish her sentence. "The man was scared... his akuma was erratic, especially since he was being driven to thoughts of murder. He attacked me with his knife, and then he ran away." Collette said quietly, and the silence was so thick and full of tension, Marinette had to look to see how Adrien was taking it all. His teeth were grit and he was gripping the chair he was sitting in, but he looked like he was holding himself in okay.

"I was hurt of course, I was bleeding badly, and I was trying to tell Gabriel I'd survive when I turned back to a civilian, you know how the magic works... but... he was so upset... There was an akuma taking him over and I tried to help him."

"She tried to enter my mind at the same moment I took her Miraculous. I kept remembering how she'd said her Miraculous could 'fix people'... I thought I could do it for her."

"Him taking the Miraculous that he was never supposed to own, along with his erratic Akuma, all turned out to react quite badly." Tikki said, and Collette added,

"I was stuck in a kind of limbo state for years. I could see everything though. I saw him go home, completely overtaken and corrupted into a kind of super villain. His outward self was cold and cruel, and his double life was simply bent on capturing your Miraculous."

"I remember believing that if I had their Miraculouses I would be happy. I often translated that to having ultimate power, but it was really because I subconsciously thought that if I owned them I could bring my wife back. I didn't know that the entire time, all I needed to do was let go of the Miraculous... not just physically, like you can with your earrings and ring. But mentally as well. I'm sorry for all the pain I caused you, Adrien. If Plagg is right about an Akuma growing inside you, it's probably because of me."

"It's okay dad. You were being protective of me... I could see that. And even though some of the things were over the top, I forgive you now...It wasn't really you." Adrien said quietly as he smiled.

"Ah, see! I can feel the Akuma shrinking already!" Plagg said happily, and Adrien looked down to see the Kwami pressing his ear against Adrien's heart.

"You're going to make me smell like cheese, Plagg..." Adrien laughed, scratching the top of the Black Kwami's head.

Chat Noir tackled the robber from behind as Ladybug snatched the Tourist's stolen purse from the man, smiling at the scene.

"Nice try." she said slyly, slinging the bag over her arm.

"Ah, My Lady- that purse goes quite well with your outfit." Chat commented as she twirled a little and he tied the man's hands together behind his back.

"Thank you mon Minou! I should really get one like it." Ladybug said happily, dodging the robbers kick aimed towards her feet.

"Most definitely. Are the police here yet?"

"I think they're just around the corner."

Ladybug led the way as Chat pushed the man forward, and they came out into the street to see cop cars and the press.

Soon the criminal was handed over to the police and Ladybug returned the bag to the grateful tourist.

"Ladybug- Chat Noir- do you think there will be anymore super-"

"We've answered this already-" Chat Noir began _(check the FAQ PLZ)_ and Ladybug finished with,

"About 100 times! No, there should not be anymore super villains. The only people we're fighting now are criminals."

"This is important to remember though, because Ladybug's cure can't fix everything anymore..." Chat continued, and then Ladybug waved the reporters away, turning to face other ones.

"However, this means that if we don't use our powers... there's more time for interviews!" she said happily and he nodded.

"Yeah, except for I have a date in about ten minutes." Chat said cheekily and she smiled.

"Oh really kitty? I do too, I guess we both have to go."

"Are you two dating?"

They both looked at the reporter with bored expressions and Chat stuck out his tongue. Ladybug only answered,

"Listen, we're super heroes, not celebrities. We're not ones for tabloids."

Then laughing, Ladybug looped arms with Chat who unknown to her, nodded secretly at the reporters like the happy cat that he was, before he saluted and leapt away with her.

"I almost regret telling them we have more time for interviews..." Marinette sighed as she punched the video game buttons, half sitting on Adrien's lap who looked far from serene as he desperately tried to beat the cool headed girl playing against him.

"Welcome to the celebrity life." Adrien said under his breath as his thumbs moved furiously.

'If it was just Ladybug it would be fine, but now both of my lives are being stalked by the media thanks to _you_." she sighed, barely batting an eyelash as she pounded Adrien's character to dust and got a highscore simultaneously.

"Uuuuugh..." he groaned, and she laughed maliciously, tossing the controller to the side. Then he looked down at her with a sad kind of smile and said,

"I'm sorry. You'd think they'd leave models alone, they usually just pick on actors and people like that."

"Well Chloe is worse than all of them put together, and I can handle her just fine." Marinette sighed happily, and he frowned harder. Then he broke into laughter, shaking his head at the thought of the class finding out they were dating.

" _ADRIEN! YOU'RE BACK!"_

" _Yeah, I'm fine, thanks Chloe-"_

" _CHAT NOIR TOLD ME A HORRIBLE LIE."_

" _What?"_

" _HE TOLD ME YOU WERE TAKING MARINETTE TO THE DANCE."_

 _Adrien had stared at Chloe, then down at the hand of Marinette that he was clearly holding. Then back up at Chloe._

" _Yeah, we're kind of a thing..."_

" _WHAT FROM BEING LOCKED UP TOGETHER? You just went through a traumatic experience and decided you were into each other- it's a mental condition- I DID RESEARCH ON IT-or well Sabrina did- BUT STILL-"_

" _Chloe, Marinette and I were flirting with each other for a long time now. I appreciate your concern, thank you." And he'd pulled Marinette straight past the offended gasping girl, trying to hold back his smirk as Marinette stuttered some nonsense with red cheeks._

"Hey, Adrien?" Marinette said, breaking his thoughts as he looked back down at her with raised eyebrows.

"Yes?"

"I wanted to talk to you about all of this identity stuff."

"Again? Okay." he said, smiling.

They'd awkwardly been dancing around the topic, mostly laughing at the ridiculous moments they'd had together, (Marinette's personal favorite was how he'd thrown his shoe into a classroom to make everyone think he'd been kidnapped by the Akuma). But sometimes it was more serious, where they expressed their fears and insecurities, and were both seeking reassurance although they didn't straight out ask for it.

"I just wanted you to know that... You're the same person to me." Marinette said, smiling at him. He shrugged and said with a smile back,

"I know... you are too."

"Yeah but it was harder for me to get there than it was for you."

"That's okay. I get it."

"You're really okay with that? I was worried you wouldn't like both sides of me... I don't know what it was like for you." Marinette said, twisting her hands together.

"To be perfectly honest, I was just flattered that the boy I would have been jealous of, was in fact, myself." Adrien said with a very Chat like smile and she grinned, biting her lip.

"Okay... I love both sides of you very much. I wanted you to know that it doesn't feel like two sides anymore... Even though you tend to keep the puns for the costume- which I am VERY grateful for." She turned her head away with a sigh.

"Hmm..." Adrien tapped his chin thoughtfully and Marinette attacked him with a pillow, laughing and scolding him as he raised his arms to protect himself, laughing as well.

Plagg frowned at them from the pillow he was lounging on, curled up beside Tikki who was in a cookie coma, but they were too distracted to notice.

Downstairs in Marinette's livingroom, their parents stopped chatting for a moment and smiled, the laughter reaching their ears.

Finally, everyone was smiling again.


End file.
